Waterloo Road
by o0bubbleso0oOo
Summary: A brand new term for the forever failing school means brand new staff, brand new students and brand new drama.
1. Episode One

Students hoarded into the school ground discussing the happenings over the summer term and groaning over the start of a new one, completely oblivious to the newly appointed head teacher that was watching over them like a bird of prey from her office. As she sipped on the cup of cold coffee that she had brought in with her first thing this morning, she scoured across the grounds of her troubled school at her new students, who were equally as troubled. Truth be told, everyone thought she had thrown herself into the deep end - her first role as a head teacher at a school that was notorious in the local area for gangs, teenage pregnancies and failing exam results, but Shauna Teasdale thought, well, knew she could make a positive change to it all.

Her deep trail of thought was soon interrupted with the sound of knocking on her office door.

"Come in," she called out as she sat down at the desk and began organising the new term's paperwork that was piled sky high already.

"Shauna Teasdale, right?"

Shauna looked up to see a charming young man stood in her doorway, dressed in a pristine suit, holding yet another pile of paperwork presumably for her.

"Yes," Shauna replied.

"Welcome to Waterloo Road," the stranger smiled to her as he invited himself farther into the office. "I'm Daryl Stuarts. I'm the school's secretary - and yours for that matter. Can I get you anything? Tea? Coffee? Student records?"

"Lovely to meet you, Daryl. I'm good at the moment," Shauna thanked.

"Will you be taking the assembly today or shall I assign it to another senior member of staff whilst you settle in?" Daryl asked.

"I'll do it. I'll do it," Shauna insisted, standing up from her chair in a flash and straightening out the few creases in her black dress. "Um.. I don't suppose you know.."

"Down the corridor, left at the sports hall, past the science laboratories and on the right hand side," Daryl replied instantly with a sincere smile. "Don't worry about the kids. They can be scary at first but they're a lovely bunch deep down."

"Thank-you," Shauna smiled with a brief sigh of relief to have somebody on her side.

* * *

Clutching onto a paper timetable, Luke looked up at the school that was worlds apart from his previous school. His mother decided it would be a good change of scenery for him to start his final year of school at a completely different school on the other side of the country, much to Luke's liking.

"Alright."

A little taken back, Luke looked at the stranger who had approached him out of nowhere. Was he mistaken to his identity? Did he have a problem? What did he want from Luke?

"Hello?" Luke replied with confusion.

"Don't look so scared. I noticed you were looking a bit lost so I thought I'd come see if you needed directions or anything."

Luke's look of confusion didn't remove itself in a hurry. Instead, Luke continued to look bewildered as he studied the stranger stood in his way. Being brought up in private schools, Luke had developed the mentality that public schools was full of rough kids brought up on the estates in the low part of society - 'Jeremy Kyle rejects' as his friends used to label them. This was not something that Luke had expected in a million years. Someone in a public school was actually being nice to him? Maybe his perception had been all wrong? Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea? Maybe the change in setting would do him a world of good?

"Oh, I'm Luke.."

Just before Luke had chance to finish off introducing himself, a football came flying straight at him and slapped him around the head before flying off in the direction of a group of year eight girls, who all subsequently screamed at the football's appearance.

"Watch out," the unknown boy in front of him shouted to a group of lads in the direction the ball came from. "Are you alright?"

"Uh. Yeah," Luke replied, putting his hand on the back of his head.

"I'm Alfie Simpson by the way."

"Luke Bryant."

"Do you know where you've got your first lesson?" the boy, now identified as 'Alfie', asked.

Luke asked. "English."

"Same. Come with me if you want?" Alfie paused. "Unless you have plans with friends you already have here?"

Luke shook his head.

As the pair made their way up the steps, Alfie attempted to make small talk with Luke but it was evident to the both of them that they were completely different. Luke was into classical music - being able to play the piano and harp highlighted this, whereas Alfie was into indie music and rock so long as it wasn't too heavy. Luke had perfectly combed brown hair that lacked any sort of style apart from combed, whilst Alfie had his short brown hair styled with what seemed like an entire tub of gel into a fashionable side quiff. Luke expressed his enthusiasm to find out the school's curriculum. On the other hand, Alfie couldn't wait to find out which couples had broken up, which teacher had been sacked or which girl had got pregnant over summer, which was the usual at Waterloo Road.

* * *

Snaking her way through the crowds that were piling into the assembly hall, Dylan Fletcher attempted to locate her best friend but it was no use. Trying to fit all 600 students at the school into one assembly hall at last minute was impossible as it was, without having to deal with locating friends in the erupting mess. In the end, Dylan gave up and sat down on a spare seat at the end of a year eleven tutor group.

Within seconds of the students finding seats, a young man made his way onto the stage carrying a microphone, looking very dapper in a suit that looked as if it only had the labels cut off it a few moments ago.

"Can you all settle down please?" he announced sternly as he looked out onto the new batch of students that would be under his wing this year. "Quiet."

The hall slowly quietened down as all the students settled back into the school's ways.

"Thank-you," he paused. "Welcome back to a brand new year here at Waterloo Road. It's nice to see so many familiar faces and for those who do not know me, I'm Mr. Bushley and I'm the new deputy head."

"Go on, sir!" a voice echoed from the back of the room.

"Thank-you Sean White for your input but quieten down or you will go to the Cooler," Mr. Bushley - or Dale as he was known more informally - ordered. "I would like you all to give a warm welcome though to your new head teacher, Miss. Teasdale. She's joining us here from London."

"Thank-you, Mr. Bushley," Shauna smiled as she made her first appearance on the stage. "I just want to say a few things quickly before you all go to your first classes of the year and get ready to learn."

The inference of learning made a few of the students groan, causing Shauna to give them a disapproving look from her authoritative position in the middle of the stage.

"Firstly, I want you to all work hard this year and get the exam results that I know you are all capable of achieving. Your teachers are here to support your learning and enhance the time you spend here at Waterloo Road so please do not hesitate to ask them for help, regardless of what you need help with. Remember, there is no such thing as a silly question," Shauna began, reeling off the cliche sayings that she'd heard from previous head teachers at the other schools she had taught in, as well as things she had been told herself when she was a student all those many years ago. "Secondly, school isn't just about the learning. I want you to all enjoy the years you spend here and I want you to all leave this school with some of the best memories of your lives that you'll cherish for a long time to come. This school will be working closely with the community in the weeks to come and there will be plenty of extra-curricula activities for you all to participate in, so please take advantage of these opportunities."

* * *

Yvonne Smith was all prepared for her first class as an independent English teacher. She had spent the majority of the night before organising lesson plans, photocopying extracts from great works of literature and had managed to sweet talk the school caretaker into letting her into the school grounds at 6am so she could put up the classroom displays prior to her first class' arrival.

Glancing up at the clock, Yvonne realised she had three minutes until her first set of students of the year were due to arrive. Taking a moment to herself, Yvonne straightened up the pile of textbooks and took another deep breath before writing the date on the board. Walking to the back of the room, she looked up at the whiteboard and decided to write the date on the board as the students were settling down for the lesson so she didn't look too keen.

Reaching up to erase the date, the classroom door opened and her students piled in. Final year students weren't her ideal choice of class for the first class but she didn't have any choice in the matter so she had to grin and bear it.

"Welcome class," she smiled as she left the date on the board and stood watching the students as they found seats at the rows of tables that she had rearranged last minute. "Please take a seat, take a book from the end of the rows and write your details on the front."

A sigh of relief was all the Yvonne could do as she watched her students settle down and follow her instructions to the letter. Each one of them grabbed a book from the end of the rows in which they were seated at and each one of them began to write their personal details on their book. Maybe things weren't going to be that bad, Yvonne thought.

"Right, I'm not going to pussyfoot around like usual for the start of the year. I'm going to dive straight into the syllabus as you're in your final year at school so I gather you are able to handle the pressure of getting straight to the learning," Yvonne smiled.

"Miss. What's your name?" Dylan asked.

With all the nerves and worries that had been running through her head, Yvonne had forgotten the most vital thing she needed to do - introducing herself. "Sorry. Sorry, my name is Miss. Smith," she replied, slightly flustered.

After taking a few moments to compose herself, Yvonne turned back to the class and continued with the lesson. "Today we're going to be developing our debating skills in the hope that we can participate in a class debate by the end of the lesson on any topic of your choice."

"Debating? Like fighting?" Sean White asked, overly excited at the idea of being allowed to fight in class.

"No. Not fighting. Debating is much more than 'fighting'. Debating is essentially verbally fighting, I guess. However, debating allows you to 'fight' your opponent on a much more academic level. Intelligence fighting is much more powerful than physical fighting."

"That's no fun though," Sean groaned, losing interest in the lesson automatically.

"Shut up, Sean," another boy laughed in the corner.

"Why don't you shut up, Benny? Or do you want me to make you shut up? 'Cos I will," Sean grunted as he stood up from his seat and lunged towards the table in which the boy, Benjamin, was sat.

"Alright. Alright," Yvonne butted in, breaking up the tension between the boys. "Sean, sit down now, please."

Obeying the teacher's orders, Sean reluctantly sat down with a face like thunder as he continued to glare at Benjamin.

"When you debate, there are things you need to consider before you even put pen to paper or words to mouth. In pairs, I want you to quickly discuss what you need to think about before you debate," Yvonne instructed before allowing the class to talk.

Sitting down in her chair, Yvonne sighed a discreet sigh of relief as she watched the class engaging in the activity and discussing with the students around each other. Whilst most of the students were staying on task, Sean decided to distract a girl that was talking about the work to another girl sat beside her.

"So Penny, still a lesbo?" Sean asked, winking to the blonde girl, who was sat directly behind him.

"Yes, Sean," Penny groaned, rolling her eyes before ignoring him.

"That's probably because you haven't had chance with me yet, init," Sean laughed. "So how about you and me tonight? My mum's off to bingo and the sister's off to my auntie's so I got the house to myself."

"Lucky you," Penny replied. "However, I don't know if you believe it but I am a lesbian and lesbian's don't really find males attractive, and even if we did, we don't especially don't find males with brains the size of peas and genitals the size of chipotle sausages attractive."

"You don't know what you're missing," Sean snarled, trying to laugh off the embarrassment. "You're not even that pretty."

"My loss," Penny smiled.

Standing up from her chair, Yvonne looked over her class before taking some suggestions from other students.

"Sean, you have been participating a bit in the lesson so I want you to give us a topic that we will use as our debate," Yvonne asked.

Sean glanced back at Penny before responding to Yvonne's request. "Gays."

"Yeah. Homophobia is a very good suggestion and very relevant with all the going ons in the news recently with gay marriage," Yvonne smiled. "Who wants to give us a starting point? What's the first thing we need to consider?"

"No. I mean 'gays and lesbians'. It's not normal. I mean, you can't have two keys or two locks, you need a key and a lock," Sean argued.

Penny, in a rage, stood up. "You see, Miss. Sorry for this outburst but it's small minded people like Sean White that are causing all this uproar in the media. Being gay or being a lesbian or being bisexual hasn't got anything to do with anybody else apart from the person who is gay or lesbian or bisexual," Penny growled. "Some people feel as if it's their business to decide for themselves how somebody else chooses to live their life but it isn't. My decisions don't affect Sean and his decisions don't affect me. Just because he wants to get in my bed and can't."

As the class erupted with laughter and applause, Sean melted into a pile of humiliated embarrassment as Yvonne looked up at the clock - it was going to be a long day, a very long day.

* * *

Once Yvonne had dismissed her class, she sat down in her chair and began to contemplate her life choices. All the way through college and university she knew she wanted to be an English teacher and now her dreams had turned into a reality, she regretted it. Nobody said it was going to be an easy job, but at the same time, nobody warned her that it was going to be this hard. An hour had slowly crawled passed and she had already had to send Sean White to the Cooler, give a warning to Penny Spencer and break up a fight between two of the year sevens who passed her classroom during the lesson. She was exhausted and she still had six hours to go.

* * *

With the students spending their break in the playground, the majority of the teachers resided to the staff room for well-deserved tea and biscuits. Layla Walker, the school's health nurse, was sat on the sofas by the coffee tables with Shirley Brand, the school's French teacher, discussing her daughter's newborn baby, cooing over photos of him as she proudly showed off her first grandchild. Amber Hussein, the school's new science teacher, was being introduced to all of the staff who had congregated by the kitchen area by Linda Thomas, the school's maths teacher. Kevin Thomas, the school's history teacher and Linda's husband, had set up camp at the computer as he began to organise this year's school trip to Normandy, France.

"Sorry to interrupt but can I just say a few words?" Dale Bushley, the deputy head, asked as he walked into the room and attempted to get everyones' attention. "I won't be too long. I just wanted to announce a few changes to the school that will occur this year."

"That's Dale. He used to be the old science teacher but he got promoted to deputy when the last one left last term," Linda explained to Amber beneath her breath.

"Definitely let the power get to him," Taj Mahila, the art teacher, said as he overheard Linda and Amber's conversation.

"Taj, got something to share with us?" Dale asked in a tone that was more like he was telling a student off rather than a fellow teacher.

"Nope," Taj replied, sipping on his cup of tea as he took a seat at the sofa opposite to Layla and Shirley.

"As you know, we are aiming for at least 75% in the GCSE results this year - but anything higher will be good too," Dale paused, looking at Kevin in particular. "Especially since history has been falling behind in the last couple of years so it'll be nice to raise your average."

"Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Bushley, but could I just greet everyone?" Shauna asked as she made an entrance into the staff room.

Defeated, Dale sat down on the sofa and let the head teacher speak to her staff.

"I just wanted to say hello to you all. I've met a few of you already but I just want to say that I'm really looking forward to working with you all as a team and getting Waterloo Road back to the top," Shauna smiled.

As her introduction was met by an applause, she smiled another smile to the faces around the room. Conversation soon began to erupt in the staff room as Shauna stood down from her speaking role and disappeared through the door and down the corridor.

Nursing an empty cup, Amber looked nervously around the room. She had been a teacher before - only at a primary school. Going from primary school to this was a huge step for anybody, but especially for her. Whilst everybody else talked about their summers and their fears for the new term, Amber stared into the bottom of her cup.

"Can I get you a refill?"

Slightly thrown back, Amber looked up to see Taj looking right back at her with a friendly smile written across his face. "Um. I.. I'm okay for the time being. Thank-you all the same," she smiled.

"Maybe I can take you out for a proper drink sometime then?" Taj proposed.

"Maybe," Amber smiled just in time for the bell to ring.

* * *

After brushing her hair back into a neat bun, Emma Miller folded her school uniform up onto the bench in the PE changing rooms before turning to Dylan, her best friend.

"Dyl. Can't we just skip PE? I don't feel too good and could do with some shopping in town," Emma groaned as she slumped across the bench.

"Nope. If I miss anymore lessons, mum'll kill me. She still hasn't forgiven you for last term," Dylan laughed as she grabbed hold of her best friend's hands and pulled her up. "Come on. It'll be fun."

"Fine," Emma groaned after a few moments of hesitation. "But if it isn't fun, you have to come to town this weekend."

"Deal," Dylan smiled as the girls walked out of the changing rooms and onto the school field with their arms linked.

As everybody arranged themselves onto the field in a messy fashion, Sean and his 'gang', consisting of Muhammad Mahila and Danny Walsbrook, discussed this year's girls.

"Alright, if you had to choose between Emma Miller, Dylan Fletcher and Penny Spencer, which one would you choose?" Sean laughed.

"Emma. Without a doubt," Muhammad replied as his eyes remained attached to Emma as her and Dylan strutted across the field to meet with the other girls.

Danny, however, was reluctant to answer so quickly. He looked at all the girls before looking back at Dylan. "Dylan, I guess," he replied. "There's just something about her."

"Rumour has it she's a virgin," Sean chuckled. "Are you really sure about that, Dan?"

Danny nodded. "I can teach her a few things, right?" he joked as he ran his hand through his mousy brown spiked hair.

"I wouldn't turn any of those three down," Sean huffed as he looked at the three girls in turn before turning back to look at his mates. "Shame Penny's a lesbo."

"Right, gentlemen, line up on this line. Ladies, on this line," a tall, handsome man ordered as he jogged onto the field to join the students, pointing to two faded white lines which were only just visibly parallel to one another on the grass. "I want you all to do some stretches - holding each stretch for ten seconds, shaking it off and then repeating. Go!"

Wearily, the majority of the students following the instructions they had just been given. Emma and Dylan stood on the girls' line laughing as they both did mirrored stretches. Sean, Muhammad and Danny, on the other line, watched the girls closely - Sean watching Penny, Muhammad watching Emma and Danny watching Dylan.

"What is their problem?" Dylan questioned as she nodded her head to Emma in the boys' direction.

"Staring problems?" Emma laughed. "Just ignore them. They're all losers."

"What do you think of the new PE teacher then?" Dylan asked her best friend as they both lunged forward and held their stands for ten seconds, just like they were asked.

"Bit hot, isn't he?" Emma grinned. "What do you think?"

"He's alright," Dylan smiled as she glanced over to him. "I bet he's married though. The good teachers always are. Remember Mr. Hilton in year seven?"

"Remember? I dream about him every night," Emma giggled.

"Looking good, girls," the new PE teacher smiled as he walked down the lines, assessing the students' stretching. "Just push forward a bit more in that lunge for me."

"Fifty quid says I bed him by Christmas," Emma whispered as he got closer to them.

"Fifty?" Dylan questioned, sounding unsure about the whole arrangement. "Can't you get kicked out of the school for sleeping with the teachers?"

"Who cares? Christmas is half way through the year and then I'll only have three months left," Emma replied, continuing to hush her voice so her words were only for Dylan's benefit. "They're hardly gonna kick me out that close to our final exams."

"Fine," Dylan paused. "Still don't think you're gonna do it."

"Girls, is there a problem here?"

Emma and Dylan both shook their head in unison as they both looked up into the new PE teacher's dreamy chocolate eyes. It was as if the girls had got lost in his eyes and their legs turned to jelly as they grinned up at him.

"Definitely not, sir," Emma smiled.

"What's your name?" the new PE teacher asked.

"Emma. Emma Miller, sir. What's your name?" she replied.

"Mr. Rogers."

"Mister as in mister with a wife, mister with a girlfriend, mister with a husband, mister with a boyfriend..?" Emma paused, playfully grinning to the attractive teacher stood in front of her.

"Sir, are we gonna play football or are you just gonna check the girls out as they stretch?" Sean shouted from across the field.

"Sean White, I take it?" Will Rogers asked as he turned around.

"Yes. Who wants to know?"

"I've heard quite a bit about you already, Sean, and I've been in the school premises for three hours. I'd behave if I was you," Will suggested.

As Will jogged back up the field to stand in the middle of both the female line and the male line, Sean rolled his eyes and began to back chat to the rest of his friends, showing off like normal.

* * *

Stood at her locker, organising her folders on what needed to stay in school for the following day and what folders needed to go home with her, Dylan flicked her hair over her shoulder as she placed one folder into her school bag and took hold of another before locking the locker back up.

"Dylan, right?" Danny smiled to her as he leant against the lockers beside where she was stood.

"Uh, yeah," she replied, looking as if she was in a rush.

"I haven't seen you in ages."

Dylan looked at him with a puzzled expression across her face. "I don't want to come across as rude but do I know you?" she asked.

"I don't think we've talked, but we're in a few classes this year so I guess we should talk at sometime since we're gonna be spending a lot of time together," Danny answered.

"Right," Dylan nodded.

"My mate, Sean's having a party tonight. His parents are away so he's got the place to himself. I can get some alcohol and we've invited some other people from here to it so it should be a good night. What do you say?" Danny suggested.

Dylan looked at the folder in her clutch with a sigh. "I guess I can make an appearance for an hour or so," she smiled.

"Invite some friends too if you want," Danny grinned. "I'll see you later then."

"Yeah. See you later."

* * *

Sinking into the sofa in her office as the hustle and bustle of the school was replaced gradually with a soft sense of silence, Shauna Teasdale let out a huge sigh of relief. She did it. Her first day as head teacher had gone by relatively well. The school's premises were still standing and she had finished the day with the same amount of students as she had started the day with, which was always a good sign.

Just as Shauna was about to call it a day and head back to her empty house that she once used to share with her ex-husband, there was a gentle knock at the door.

"How was it then?" Daryl asked as he invited himself into the office with a bouquet of flowers. "These arrived earlier as a welcome present from all the staff."

"They're beautiful, thank-you," Shauna smiled, admiring the bouquet that was in the secretary's hands. "I don't suppose you could put them in a vase for me? I'm absolutely knackered."

"Certainly. You sit yourself down and relax," Daryl insisted as he walked over to the cabinet and retrieved a dusty vase from inside the filing shelves.

Shauna watched Daryl brush off the dust with the edge of his suit's sleeve as she sat back down on the sofa. Following Daryl with her eyes, she watched him as he filled the vase up with some water and then arranged the flowers into a pretty setting in the vase.

"Desk or table?" he then asked as he brought the vibrant vase back into the main part of Shauna's office.

"Table please," Shauna smiled. "Thank-you."

* * *

Walking up the steps to the front door, Danny was followed by Muhammad as he joked about the night that was about to unfold in front of them. "You two go in," Danny said as he moved to the side of the door, letting his friend go through. "I'll catch up with you in a sec. There's something I've got to do first."

Muhammad reluctantly entered the house, leaving Danny stood on the decking area outside the front door. As soon as the door shut, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, quickly dialed a number from memory and then placed the phone to his ear, waiting nervously for somebody to answer on the other end. "Oh, come on," Danny mumbled to himself, just as somebody picked up the phone. "I can't talk for too long. Well, I can't talk at all really - I just want you to know that I love you. I can't help but love you. I don't care what has gone on in the past and everything you did, I forgive you. I just want to see you. I just thought you deserved to know this."

As soon as the door opened, Danny pulled the phone away from his ear as fast as he could and shoved it back into the pocket of his jeans.

"Danny," Sean called as he walked out of the front door, looking at his best friend with a suspicious look.

"It's alright," Danny smiled. "I'm coming."

* * *

As a few people danced along to the sound of the heavy bass line thud from the music that was blasting through the stereo, Danny looked around the room from the doorway, guzzling his drink from the beer bottle. After a few more moments of scanning the room deep in thought, Sean crept up behind Danny and shouted "boo" in his ear, startling Danny as a result.

"God, you shouldn't do that!" Danny said before walking off in a mood towards the kitchen, which was also crammed full of people.

Sean looked at Danny in confusion before following him, snaking past all the people in the kitchen and out of the back door to the much quieter garden. By the time Sean had managed to catch up with Danny, he was already sat on the slight slope in the middle of the huge garden, facing the pond at the bottom of the garden, with his back to a concerned Sean - which very rarely happened. Looking at the person he had been best friends with since nursery, Sean put his empty beer bottle down on the patio table and made his way across the grass to where Danny was sat. Without saying a word, Sean sat down on the slope beside Danny and looked at the pond, waiting for him to say something to break the silence.

"She kicked off again. I guess I should have seen it coming but I guess part of me wanting it to be over and wanted it to be back to how it used to be, before it all happened," Danny sighed.

"It'll get better soon, mate," Sean paused. "Now, get your ass back inside, find a hot girl and let's have a good night. Didn't you invite Dylan and that lot?"

Danny nodded.

"Maybe you'll de-virgin her," Sean teased.

"Knew you being nice couldn't last too long," Danny groaned as Sean picked himself up off the grass and brushed himself off.

As Sean disappeared back into the house, Danny glanced down at his phone and sighed to himself for yet another time. Instead of putting his phone back into his pocket, he looked over at the fish pond that was glistening in the moonlight at the bottom of the garden and paused for a few moments. After a few more moments of thinking, Danny lobbed his phone in the direction of the pond. Splash!

* * *

"Work hard," Muhammad chanted as he drunkenly stumbled over to Danny and Sean as they sat joking about in the conservatory. "Party harder."

"You need to slow down," Danny laughed, taking the beer bottle from Muhammad's clutch and downing the beer himself. "Thanks."

"Isn't drinking against your religion?" Sean questioned.

Muhammad shook his head violently as he fell in between the two boys. "Well, it is. But my dad's the muslim. I'm not."

"Right," Sean paused, looking around at the people in the house - in his house, none of whom he recognised apart from the two friends sat on the sofa with him. "Who even are these people?"

"I invited them. Most of them are in year ten," Muhammad replied, seeming happy with himself.

"Year ten? So they're three to four years younger than us?" Sean asked, groaning. "You're hopeless with invites."

"I'm tempted to go home," Danny confessed.

"Are you serious?" Sean growled.

"No offence, mate, but it's so boring," Danny paused.

"If Danny goes, I go," Muhammad added.

Sean looked at both of his friends in a mix of disbelief and rage. "Alright, leave. See if I care. I'll just have to make some new friends with these year tens."

"Okay," Danny replied, losing even more interest in what Sean was planning to do by the minute.

* * *

Whilst Dylan got out of the car, Emma and Penny made their way towards the front door, still singing along to Nicki Minaj. As Emma went to knock on the door, the door opened and out walked Muhammad and Danny.

"Dylan," Danny smiled instantly. "You came."

Dylan nodded with a friendly smile to Danny. Emma and Penny both looked suspiciously at their friend as Muhammad stared at Emma, making her feel a little uncomfortable.

"You aren't going yet, are you?" Dylan asked.

"Came to get some fresh air," Danny smiled, holding the door open for the girls as the blaring music escaped into the street. "After you."

As Dylan, Emma and Penny disappeared into the house, Muhammad turned to look at Danny with a grin across his face. "I suppose we could stay for an hour or so, right?" he said, rushing back down the path and towards the front door, beginning a mission in quest of his fellow students.

"Right," Danny grinned, following Muhammad and the girls.

As they re-entered the house that was erupting with energy from the music, it seemed like they were walking into a completely different party - the music had been turned up even louder but the whole place was full of people jumping along to the beat. People were genuinely having a good time, unlike the party before.

"She got that good good, she Michael Jackson bad and I'm attracted to her for her attractive ass," Emma sang along to the music as she bounced to the beat of Young Money's 'Bedrock'. "And now we murderers because we kill time, I knock her lights out and she still shine."

* * *

With the school being illuminated by the soft glow of the night security lights from the grounds outside, Shauna had decided to attempt to tackle all the paperwork since Daryl had offered to keep her company with a bottle of wine and a helping hand with the paperwork.

"So you were originally from London, weren't you?" Daryl asked as he filed through a folder of scrap pieces of paper.

Shauna nodded. "Yes. I moved here with my husband two years ago but this is my first job being back in Scotland."

"Husband? I didn't know you were married?" Daryl questioned. "I just gathered with you being a 'Miss'."

"Oh, divorced," Shauna nodded as she took a drink from her glass of wine. "'Ms' has always been too old for me so I decided to return to my maiden name."

"Fair enough," Daryl smiled as he handed a file to Shauna for her to flick through.

"What about you?" Shauna asked. "Married?"

Daryl shook his head. "No, no. Definitely not. Marriage isn't for me."

"Why not?" Shauna asked. "Well, if that's not too inappropriate for me to ask."

"My parents divorced when I was young. My mother remarried and got divorced. My father remarried and got divorced. I guess I haven't really been brought up with successful marriages so I don't see the fuss," Daryl smiled. "What about you? Do you think you'll ever remarry?"

Shauna looked through the papers that were in her hand before placing them down on the coffee table and filling the empty clutch with her glass of wine. "I don't know. If I meet the right man, the man for me, I might be persuaded, but for now, definitely not."

As she studied Daryl's face as he scanned through the paperwork, sorting it out into neatly organised piles in front of him, Shauna couldn't help but notice how perfect his facial features were. His chiseled cheekbones. His beady eyes. His button nose. His soft lips. He couldn't have looked over the age of 30.

In a moment of madness, Shauna lunged towards her secretary and planted a kiss upon his lips. Within seconds, Daryl reacted by pulling away from her with a startled look across her face.

"Wha.. whoa.. what was that?" Daryl stuttered, lost in a moment of confusion. "Were you.. were you trying to come onto me?"

"I.. I.. I don't know. I guess I was.. Oh.. I shouldn't have done that," Shauna cringed. "I am so sorry. I don't know what came over me. Oh.."

"Look. Don't worry about it," Daryl said, still taken back about Shauna's advance but it was blatantly obvious that he was trying to remain professional about the ordeal. "It's been a long, stressful day. We can forget it happened. I love this job and don't want anything to come in-between it."

Stood by the drinks table, Dylan grabbed a Jägerbomb before downing it as quickly as she could. The burn as it rushed down her throat made her whole body spark with electricity as she grinned across at Danny, who was watching her every move.

"Wow," Danny laughed as he watched her down another shot, even quicker this time. "I've just never seen someone down a drink as quick as that."

"You try it," Dylan grinned, handing a shot to him before wiping the corners of her mouth with her finger.

Dylan continued to watch Danny as he attempted to do the shot. She couldn't help but burst out in laughter as he failed to take the shot down in one go.

"Did I do it okay?" he asked, putting the empty shot glass on the table.

"No. You do it like this. Look," Dylan said, taking the glass from the table and leaning over to grab the bottle of Jäger. As she filled the cup with Jäger and Red Bull, Danny stood watching her in amazement. "Right, you do this one," she continued as she handed a shot to him as his eyes were still attached to her. "Just tip it all down your throat in one go."

Dylan successfully downed the shot and then Danny copied.

"See," Dylan chuckled as she watched him down another one. "You've mastered it."

As Dylan looked around at the party, laughing to herself at all the intoxicated year tens, Danny studied her with his eyes - tracing the shape of her lips, admiring the glisten in her eyes. She was completely oblivious to Danny looking at her, but he didn't really care if she knew or not.

* * *

Stood by the drinks table, Dylan grabbed a Jägerbomb before downing it as quickly as she could. The burn as it rushed down her throat made her whole body spark with electricity as she grinned across at Danny, who was watching her every move.

"Wow," Danny laughed as he watched her down another shot, even quicker this time. "I've just never seen someone down a drink as quick as that."

"You try it," Dylan grinned, handing a shot to him before wiping the corners of her mouth with her finger.

Dylan continued to watch Danny as he attempted to do the shot. She couldn't help but burst out in laughter as he failed to take the shot down in one go.

"Did I do it okay?" he asked, putting the empty shot glass on the table.

"No. You do it like this. Look," Dylan said, taking the glass from the table and leaning over to grab the bottle of Jäger. As she filled the cup with Jäger and Red Bull, Danny stood watching her in amazement. "Right, you do this one," she continued as she handed a shot to him as his eyes were still attached to her. "Just tip it all down your throat in one go."

Dylan successfully downed the shot and then Danny copied.

"See," Dylan chuckled as she watched him down another one. "You've mastered it."

As Dylan looked around at the party, laughing to herself at all the intoxicated year tens, Danny studied her with his eyes - tracing the shape of her lips, admiring the glisten in her eyes. She was completely oblivious to Danny looking at her, but he didn't really care if she knew or not.

* * *

The local pub that was just down the road from Waterloo Road was soon filled with all the teachers having their back to school drink as they all conversed with one another about the goings on in their days. Shirley Brand was groaning about her new GCSE bunch who couldn't tell the difference between 'the French language and a French fry'. Kevin Thomas was enthusiastically discussing all his plans for the school trip to Normandy at the end of that term. Yvonne Smith was being introduced to Will Rogers by Linda Thomas, who had voluntarily taken on the role of showing the new members of staff about the school. Layla Walker was talking to Amber Hussein about her move to Waterloo Road, seeming eager to find out more about Amber's previous role as a primary teacher - probably some tactical way that Layla had thought of to bring her grandson into the conversation.

Everybody was too busy in their own private conversations to notice when Shauna Teasdale and Daryl Stuarts walked into the pub. Even after spending a bit of time trying to forget the whole 'kiss' drama, it was still obvious that there was tension between them both. Shauna ordered herself a drink, only to have Will offer to buy her one. Whereas Daryl went over and introduced himself to Yvonne.

"Amber," Taj gently whispered as he stood behind her, trying to pull her out of the way from the rest of the teachers. "Can I ask you something quickly?"

"Sure," Amber smiled, finishing the last of her glass of wine off.

"Do you.. maybe.. fancy going for dinner sometime? Just me and you? You don't have to. When I mentioned it earlier you seemed a little apprehensive about it, but I thought I might as well ask you again as it might have just been the nerves of settling into a new school earlier on that made you seem like that," Taj replied. "You don't have to and I completely understand if you don't want it. I just thought I'd ask."

"I'd love to," Amber nodded.

Both Taj and Amber broke out smiling at one another before being interrupted by Shirley.

"So what do you two think of that new head teacher then? Shauna, is it?" Shirley drunkenly slurred as she propped herself up by the bar.

"She seems lovely," Amber smiled, quickly looking over to the other end of the bar to where Shauna was stood talking to Will.

"Just what the school needs," Taj agreed.

"You're wrong," Shirley laughed. "This school does not need some jumped up poshy as a deputy head and it certainly does not need a first-timer headteacher to be seeing over it, especially when we're doing so bad."

"I think she is just what Waterloo Road needs," Taj reaffirmed, getting quite a hostile attitude towards Shirley.

"There's something about her. Something I don't like. I don't know what it is yet, but I can just sense it," Shirley alleged as she stood up from the bar stool and carried herself off to spread even more joy about the head teacher.

"Who's that?" Amber asked quietly to Taj as soon as Shirley was out of hearing distance.

Instead of answering straight away, Taj looked up at Shirley and paused. Shirley Brand was one of the first teachers to teach at Waterloo Road when it first opened ten years ago. But then, she was a 38 year old mother of two. Now, she was just a 48 year old widow whose children refused to speak to her. Her bleach blonde short hair resembled straw. Her face was caked in make-up to cover the ageing wrinkles and the sagging skin. Her nose was pointed like a witch and her teeth were all crooked to match the appearance, but that didn't stop her accentuating her lips with a bright red lipstick that was usually smudged across her lip line.

"She was beaten out of the post to head teacher last time. She went up for it again so I guess she's just resenting Shauna for the fact she got the post when she didn't, again," Taj explained. "She can be nice. But she's stuck up most of the time and does nothing but bitch about her classes. It's really no wonder why most of her students leave Waterloo Road with a D or below in GCSE French - she has no faith in them at all."

Amber nodded as she looked over at Shirley, who was joking about with Yvonne and Linda.

* * *

As Penny, Emma and Dylan joked about, making up synchronised dances to the music that was playing, Sean stood in the corner of the room, watching all three of them from afar but just as closely as if he was stood right beside them. The slight sips that he was taking from the beer bottle that was placed against his lips soon turned into gulps. Putting the empty bottle down on a shelf that was decorated with family photos of Sean's family, he headed over to the girls with a grin on his face.

Grabbing hold of Penny's waist, he began to guide her hips around in time to his. Penny was laughing along. Well, that was until she glanced over her shoulder to realise it was Sean.

"Get off me, you pig!"

Without any warning, Sean was flung across the floor and landed in a messy heap in the middle of the carpet. Even though the music was still pumping loud through the room, everyone's attention was on Sean.

Dusting himself off as he stood up, he looked at Penny in rage.

"Who do you think you are?" Sean growled. "You are so gonna pay for that, you lesbian!"

"Why can't you just get it into your head? I'm never going to be into you, and you're never going to get into me," Penny retaliated.

"Well, this party really died."

Everybody's attention was now to Benjamin as he stood in the doorway with a pack of six beers and a smirk tattooed across his face.

"Who invited you?" Sean snarled as he walked over to Benjamin. "Benny."

"Whatever, Sean," Benjamin laughed. "Are you really banishing me from your party? Not going to lie, it wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to me. This party looks crap anyway."

"Get out."

"Sean, just let him stay.." Emma paused.

"Yeah, he's not doing anything wrong," Danny agreed.

"Stop being you and just leave it alone," Muhammad added.

Sean looked back at him boys and Emma, and then at Benjamin. "No. He has to go."

Just as Sean was about to throw him out of the house, Benjamin stepped out of his way. "Don't worry. I'm off. Wouldn't wanna stay here anyway."

* * *

Stood in the corridor of the pub beside the gentlemen's toilets, Daryl looked at the door that led back to the main bar area. Glaring back at the closed gentlemen's toilets' door, he took a huge sigh. As he was about to walk into the toilets, the door of the bar opened and in walked Layla.

"Alright, Daryl?" she smiled as she walked past him. "What are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for my mum to call about the cat," he replied. "Went in for an operation this morning. I'm not too bothered about the cat - he is getting old, but he's the only thing my mum still has at home so I just want to make sure he's okay for her sake."

"You're such a lovely lad," Layla paused. "I hope my grandson grows up to be like you."

Daryl flashed a smile to her as she walked into the ladies' toilets. As soon as she disappeared in through the door, Daryl slipped into the gentlemen's toilets.

"I told you to stay away from me."

"I can't stay away from you," Daryl pleaded. "You're everything I can think of. I know the kiss was my fault but I also know you felt something too. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Daryl, nothing can happen. You're the school secretary. I'm the school's history teacher. My wife is the school's maths teacher. Don't you see how messy this is, let alone how messy it would get if people found out?"

Daryl looked at Kevin Thomas with a sincere look of worry on his face as Kevin leant over the washbasin to wash his hands "I think.. well, no. I don't think - I know. I'm falling for you."

"You can't."

Daryl took a step forward to stand behind Kevin. The pair looked into the mirror and at one another's reflection with emotionless looks across their faces.

"Nothing can happen. Nothing will happen. That kiss. It was a mistake," Kevin explained. "Just let it go. Please. For your sake and for mine. I love my wife. I love my children."

Just as Daryl was about to kiss him against his will, Kevin dodged the bullet and darted out of the gentlemen's toilets towards the fire exit at the other end of the corridor to the door that led into the bar area. The second that Kevin made his exit out of the door and disappeared into the rainy nighttime outside, Layla made an appearance out of the ladies' toilets, getting in Daryl's way.

"Heard anything? How's the cat?" she asked.

Giving her a distant look, Daryl looked at Layla like she was going insane. It was only until Daryl's brain returned back to Earth that he realised what she meant.

"Haven't heard yet," Daryl replied sharply before scurrying out of the fire exit door, leaving it wide open as he went in search for his forbidden lover.

* * *

Putting her drink down on the table, Dylan looked at the time on her phone before shoving her phone back into her bag. "I'd better get back. I told my parents I'd be home for eleven."

Emma looked at Dylan with a friendly smile. "Do you want me to ring a taxi for you?"

"Don't worry. I can walk you home," Danny offered. "That is if you want?"

"You don't have to," Dylan smiled. "I can get a taxi. And my house isn't too far so I can walk it alone."

"I don't mind," Danny insisted.

"Let him walk you home, Dyl," Emma grinned.

"Yeah, Dylan," Penny winked.

"Danny has some business to attend to," Sean teased, finishing his hint with a sly wink. "Don't you, Danny boy?"

"Shut up, Sean," Danny groaned. "You've caused enough trouble today with your mouth so keep it shut."

Taken back a little by his friend's remark, Sean walked into the kitchen to pour himself another drink.

"Okay," Dylan nodded. "Thank-you."

* * *

Hidden down a back alley at the rear end of the pub where all their fellow teachers were celebrating the start of term, Kevin and Daryl were stood beneath a smoking shelter in silence. As Kevin pulled the cigarette up to his lips, he took a drag before knocking off the ash cherry onto the floor. Watching the ash fall into a puddle in front of them, Daryl sighed to himself.

"Nobody said this was gonna be easy," he whispered.

"Easy?" Kevin spat. "Easy? What was gonna be easy?"

"Us."

"Us?" Kevin laughed. "There is no 'us'. There never was and there never will be. It was just one kiss. One drunken kiss. A mistake. A drunken mistake. Can't you understand that?"

Daryl nodded. "I can understand that, but I don't believe it."

"Oh, let me guess. You're gonna say that you can see the real me, something Linda doesn't see? Something only you can see? And then you're gonna say that you know what I want and that's you?"

Daryl stayed silent as he watched Kevin reject him.

"Daryl, this isn't some sort of teenage love story. You're nearly twenty years younger than me. We work together. I'm married. I have children. We're not in love. It was a mistake. Something I regret deeply and if there was anything I could do to change it, I would but I can't."

"You're just in denial," Daryl hushed.

"You're crazy," Kevin replied, slightly angered by Daryl's determination.

* * *

As the rain pattered down on the pair as they walked towards Dylan's house, Danny took his leather jacket off and draped it over Dylan's bare shoulders, flashing a warm smile to her as she smiled back to him.

"You didn't have to," Dylan laughed. "I was fine as I was."

"I offered to walk you home so you get back home safe. I don't want you to get hypothermia," Danny replied.

"Well, thank-you," Dylan smiled.

The pair went back to walking in silence. The only sound that could be heard was the gentle splashing of the rain as they walked in the puddles and the spray from the odd car that drove past them on the darkened suburban estate. Dylan kept glancing to Danny ever so often, hoping he would say something to break the awkward atmosphere that had appeared between them.

"This is me then," Dylan smiled as they arrived at a little cottage at the end of the main road.

Danny looked up at the cottage and then at Dylan. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school then?"

Dylan nodded. "Thank-you for walking me home. You didn't have to."

"It's nothing. Honestly," Danny smiled.

Both pondered at one another for a few more silent moments before Danny took the courage to kiss Dylan on her cheek. Once his soft lips left her cold cheek, she smiled at him.

"Night."

"Night."

As Dylan made her way down the path and opened up the front door, Danny watched after her. He remained there for a few moments before heading back up the road in the direction of his house.

* * *

The sound of the rain coming down from the skies above couldn't be disguised by the sound of the zooming of the cars as they drove past the busy highway, splashing the grass verge with the water spray from the rain. Beams of light from the car's headlights invaded the long grass as the cars hurried along past, driving to their houses as midnight was fast approaching. But there in the hedgerow, beneath the bristles of the hedges, laid Benjamin Taylor's body.


	2. Episode Two

With the herds of students arriving onto the schools grounds, it felt like a normal school day for the teachers, especially Linda and Kevin Thomas as they both got out of their shared estate car and walked up the steps to the main entrance of the school.

"Morning girls," Linda smiled to a group of year nine girls as they hung about at the bottom of the steps. "Don't forget you have an exam in the hall instead of your maths lesson today."

"We know, miss," the girls chorused.

Just as Kevin was about to hold the door open for his wife, his attention was caught to something else - two police cars driving into the school grounds. At Waterloo Road, this was more of a reoccurrence than it probably should have been, but it didn't stop it from drawing the attention from everybody on the school ground.

The police cars parked up in a line at the side of the car park beside the field and one by one, two police officers got out of each car.

Even more students were turning up as it grew closer and closer to the hour, each student looking at the police cars and police officers, who had started to head towards the main entrance of the school, in confusion. Gossip had already began to spread through the school and none of the police officers had said a word to anybody yet.

As they approached the entrance, Kevin hastily opened the door up for them and they filed into the building in complete silence, leaving behind a trail of whispers as they walked through the school corridors, following the directions on the signs towards the Headteacher's office.

"Never a dull day at Waterloo Road, eh?" Emma joked to Dylan as they headed in the opposite direction to the police officers towards their first lesson of the day.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Jessops but you do need to request taking your child out of the country during term time for a holiday prior to the holiday," Daryl explained to a parent on the phone. "Not only is it a school policy but it is a legal requirement and ties in with Annabelle's attendance - something which we at Waterloo Road take seriously. The only thing I can do now is.."

Daryl's attention slurred as he noticed the four police officers enter his office.

"Sorry. The only thing I can do now is give you a verbal warning in the hope that this doesn't happen again," Daryl abruptly continued. "Thank-you."

As he put the phone down, he looked across at the police officers before standing up to greet them politely. "Good morning, officers. Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.

"Would it be possible to see the new headteacher please?" one of the police officers asked.

Daryl looked down at Shauna's schedule for the day. "I'm afraid Shauna's in a meeting this morning with the LEA. Can I take a message or be any assistance myself?"

"We need to speak to Shauna as soon as possible," the police officer responded. "It is really urgent."

"I'll have to ring her. Do you mind waiting in her office?" Daryl asked.

The police officers all nodded their heads in unison. Daryl quickly walked over to the door to Shauna's office and invited them in before running back to his desk and picking up the phone. After quickly dialling a number and putting the phone to his ear, Daryl glanced back across at the police officers who were now sat around the coffee table in the headteacher's office.

"Shauna. I know you said only to ring you in an emergency but this is an emergency. There's four police officers in your office needing to speak with you urgently," Daryl paused. "I don't know what it's about but looks pretty serious to me."

Putting the phone down, Daryl headed back to the door into Shauna's office. "She's on her way back now. She shouldn't be too long."

* * *

Stood at the front of her classroom that was decorated with French flags and French vocabulary tables, Shirley Brand looked helplessly at the students in front of her. "Not that I expect any of you would be able to, but can anybody tell me what is so special about these three phrases," Shirely began before taking a pause as she turned around to write some words on the whiteboard behind her. "So the first phrase is 'Si je vais, il ira aussi', and then we have 'si j'allais, il irait aussi', and finally, 'si j'étais allé, il serait allé aussi'."

Whilst the majority of the class looked up at the words on the board with expressions of confusion on their faces before returning back to their conversations, Dylan looked at the board for a few moments before putting her hand straight up.

"I don't know if it's right, but are they all conditional sentences?" Dylan suggested. "I mean, they have a combination of different tenses within them. Also, the first phrase uses the perfect tense, the second using the pluperfect tense and the third using the conditional perfect tense."

"Perfect," Shirley grinned in pleasant surprise. "Dylan, isn't it?"

Dylan nodded. "Yes, Miss."

"Well done."

As Shirley went back to lecturing the class, emitting his disappointment of seeing twenty A-Level French students, who had been studying the language for five years now, ignoring a relatively simple question, Dylan began to jot some notes down from the textbook that was open in front of her.

"So what happened last night between you and Danny?" Emma whispered as she pretended to be engaging in the lesson by imitating Dylan's actions.

"Nothing really," Dylan replied, focusing more on the textbook than on her best friend's interruptions. "He just walked me home and then kissed my cheek. It wasn't really anything. We stayed in an awkward silence for the majority of the walk home."

"Didn't you invite him into yours?" Emma asked.

Dylan shook her head.

"Girls," Shirley prompted as she looked at them both at the back of the classroom. "Don't make me send you to the cooler."

"Sorry, Miss," Emma apologised.

Just as Shirley turned her back to the class, Emma looked at her best friend and continued the conversation. "Why not? He seemed to really like you last night."

Dylan shrugged her shoulders. "Mum and dad were home. You know how my mum feels about any of my friends - especially boys. It took three years for her to even speak to you."

"True," Emma paused.

"Girls."

* * *

Tying her long black hair up behind her head as she darted up the steps to the main entrance of the school building, Shauna said 'good morning' to a few students as they all waited to enter into various classrooms off the main corridor as she made her way towards her own office.

"Shauna, they're in your office," Daryl said as soon as Shauna entered the office, looking very windswept and out of breath.

"Tha-thank-you," she stuttered, struggling to catch her breath.

As she walked into her office, she was greeted by all four police officers standing up. "Sorry about how long I took. Traffic was an absolute nightmare. The ring road is completely shut off so diversions are happening all over the town," Shauna rushed as she eventually got her breath back to a usual rate. "How can I help you?"

"Miss. Teasdale, right?" one of the police officers asked.

Shauna nodded. "Please, call me Shauna."

"Very well, Shauna. I'm afraid we have some bad news."

Shauna's face dropped as she noticed the seriousness on their faces. She knew this wasn't going to be a visit from the police that Waterloo Road was known for in the community - something had happened.

"What? What is it?" Shauna asked in a worried tone. "You're scaring me now."

"I'm afraid last night there was an incident involving one of your students," another police officer responded. "The body of Benjamin Taylor was discovered this morning on a grass verge by the ring road."

Shauna fell back to sit on the edge of her desk in disbelief. She stared at the officers as she tried to come to terms with what they had just told her. She had not prepared for this. On the drive back to the school she had mentally prepared herself for a student getting arrested or some sort of crime happening involving one of her students, but never in a million years would she have thought to prepare for something like this.

"That's awful," Shauna said, eventually breaking the silence that had erupted in her office. "That poor boy."

"We do need to speak to a few students of yours as we believe they are the last people to see him alive," another police officer insisted. "But we completely understand that it'll come as a shock to the school so we can interview them later on today."

"You don't think - you don't think they had something to do with Benjamin's death, do you?" Shauna asked.

"We can't say right now. The cause of death will be unclear until the post mortem is carried out this afternoon," they replied.

Shauna put her hand to her mouth as she tried to think of what to do. She had no idea where to start. This was out of her depth.

"Right, we'll get the students you need to interview out of their lessons as soon as possible for you. I'll call together the rest of the sixth year students to tell them as otherwise rumours will start and that'll cause more drama for everyone when it's going to be hard enough as it is," Shauna explained, starting to put a plan into action. "You may use my office to conduct the interviews and I'll be acting as their appropriate adult, I hope that is fine by you."

"Certainly."

"What are the names of the students that you need to talk to?" Shauna asked, letting her plan take over her shock.

"Sean White, Muhammad Mahila, Danny Walsbrook, Penny Spencer, Dylan Fletcher and Emma Miller," a police office replied as Shauna noted the names down on a scrap of paper that she found on her desk.

"Daryl," Shauna called as she stepped out of her office. "Could you please alert all of the sixth year staff for an emergency assembly in the assembly hall as soon as possible? I also need you to pull these six students out of their classes and get them to come here after the assembly."

As Shauna handed Daryl the scrawny note, Daryl nodded in compliance.

* * *

"No talking or you'll find yourselves in detention for the next month!" Amber Hussain ordered as she directed her class into the assembly hall. "I meant it, Hannah Connors. That goes for you too, Adam Montgomery."

"What's this even about, Miss?" Penny asked as she was led into the assembly hall.

"I don't know," Amber answered honestly. "I know as much as you do."

* * *

As soon as the assembly hall had all the sixth year students in it, sitting in neat rows on the seats close to the front, Shauna made the appearance she was dreading since she had been told the news no more than half an hour ago.

"Good morning, everyone."

Shauna was met by a scarce chorus of 'good morning's in return. Although the students had originally been sat talking in the hall at the start, they had now all hushed as they realised the serious look that was across Shauna's face as she stood on the stage in front of them.

"It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that last night we lost a talented student and a close friend to many of us here at Waterloo Road," Shauna paused as she tried to compose her words. "The police have alerted me that the body of Benjamin Taylor was found this morning."

The hall of silence was soon replaced with gasps and whispers.

"The police do need to speak to a few students individually after this but they should have already been alerted of their names," Shauna continued. "The school will also offer counselling for those who shall want it and we will organise a memorial service to remember Benjamin by."

As Shauna glanced around the room at all her staff, who were had a mixture of disbelief and devastation written across their faces, she felt as if the school had been ripped up with this news.

* * *

"I can't believe it," Alfie stuttered as he leant against the wall at the back of the school's PE department with a cigarette in his hand.

Putting the cigarette to his lips, he looked out at the football goal in the distance.

"Are they sure it was him?" Susie asked as she looked at Alfie and Luke. "I mean, you hear these stories where they mix up identities of victims. Maybe Benjamin just got drunk last night and stayed over at a mates?"

"I doubt it," Luke paused. "They wouldn't announce it to the school if not."

Alfie leant his arm around Susie's shoulders and gave her a comforting hug as they both stared into space.

"I bet it was Sean," Susie snarled. "He's always had it in for Benjamin."

"I don't think even Sean would have it in him to do something like this," Alfie replied. "He's capable of beating someone up, but not killing them."

"They haven't said how he died yet. You don't know. Sean could have easily just beaten him up but taken it one step too far and just killed him."

* * *

"So Sean," the police officer asked as he sat on the opposite side of the coffee table to Sean in Shauna's office. "How close were you to Benjamin?"

"Not very close," Sean stuttered as he stared down at the floor. "We'd had this feud since year seven. We used to be best friends in year six but then we got to high school and everything changed. Benjamin changed."

"When was the last time you saw Benjamin?"

Sean looked up at Shauna, who gave him a reassuring smile. "Last night at the party. He turned up and I told him to leave. He wasn't welcome at my party, but if I knew he'd end up dead this morning, I'd have let him stay."

"Did he leave with anyone?" the police officer asked.

Sean shook his head. "I didn't really take notice of him leaving but.." Sean paused for a moment as he took a deep breath. "I think he was alone."

"Right," the police officer nodded as he noted down some notes in his notepad.

"People will make out that I hated him, and in a way, I did, but it wasn't really him that I hated - it was who he had become," Sean sobbed. "I never wanted him dead."

"The school counsellor is available for you, Sean," Shauna hushed as she placed her hand on Sean's arm in a comforting manner.

"Thank-you, Miss. Teasdale," Sean sniffled as he took a tissue from the coffee table and blotted his eyes.

"That's all for now, Sean, but I'm sorry for your loss," the police officer sympathised.

Instead of responding with words, Sean continued to wipe his eyes as he sniffled. Standing up from the seat, Sean picked up his bag and slumped out of the office and into the corridor, where Muhammad, Danny, Penny, Dylan and Emma were waiting to be interviewed.

"Ha. They completely bought it," Sean laughed, throwing the tissue into a nearby bin.

"Bought what?" Danny asked.

"My tears," Sean grinned, pulling out a bottle of hand sanitiser. "Use this under your eye before you go in and you'll be bawling within seconds."

All five of them gave Sean a dirty look as he paraded down the corridor towards the canteen where the rest of the sixth years were congregating to make plans for Benjamin's memorial.

"Muhammad," Shauna smiled as she walked into the corridor to greet him. "Are you sure you're up to this? Sean took it a little to heart."

Muhammad nodded, trying his hardest not to drop his best friend in it. "I'm fine. I just want this over with."

"Remember guys, the police only want to know what happened last night and if you saw Benjamin after the party. You're not in trouble," Shauna reassured.

As Muhammad followed her back into the office, the remaining four stood in silence with their backs against the wall.

"Do you think Sean did it?" Emma asked quietly.

"I don't know," Danny replied. "He couldn't have done. He was with us all night. Well, until I left."

"We left not long after you," Penny added. "He had time to go and kill him if he wanted to."

"I don't think he's capable of it," Dylan paused. "Is he?"

"Neither did I at first but looking at him now, I don't know what to think," Emma contemplated.

"I'm not his biggest fan - as you all know, but I don't think he's capable of it," Penny sighed. "Poor Benjamin though."

* * *

Filing through the key cabinet in the caretaker's office, Daryl looked over his shoulder as if he was rummaging in search of something. Hearing footsteps just outside the door, Daryl threw a key into the shelf and slammed the door closed.

"Ah, Daryl. I'm glad to see you here. PC Kingston is wanting access to Benjamin's locker," Dale Bushley announced as he opened the door with a police officer standing directly behind him.

* * *

"So Muhammad, how would you describe your relationship with Benjamin?" the police officer asked.

"I wouldn't say I really had any sort of relationship with him," Muhammad replied as he ran his hand through his shaggy brown hair. "He was just somebody in my class. I met him when we were in the same geography class in year eight. He kept himself to himself but he was a bit of a class clown too. He was funny at times but could step over the line easily. I didn't really associate myself with him as Sean and him hated one another."

"Did Sean and Benjamin ever engage in violence towards one another?"

Muhammad nodded. "They had a few fights in year nine. It kind of stopped when we got to our GCSEs though."

"Did you see him at the party last night?" the police officer asked, looking up from his notepad with the pen in his hand.

Muhammad nodded. "I sort of remember him being there but I don't remember what happened. I was a bit out of it."

"Out of it?" the police officer questioned.

"Drunk."

"Aren't you seventeen?"

Muhammad nodded once again. "I don't drink much. I just did last night to celebrate first day of term. It's my birthday in three days anyway so it's not really illegal, is it?"

The police officer remained silent as he continued to jot down notes. Muhammad looked at Shauna as she kept silent beside him. "Miss, do you know if Benjamin's sister, Jasmine, is okay?"

"I haven't contacted his family yet as I'm sure they'll have enough to be dealing with today," Shauna explained. "I will ring them later on to give the whole family our condolences."

Muhammad nodded as he looked back at the police officer.

"You're free to go, Muhammad. Thank-you for your cooperation."

* * *

Stood beside Benjamin's locker, Daryl looked at the police officer as he scrabbled through Benjamin's belongings, putting various items into evidence bags and passing them to his colleague, who was watching from the side.

"Mr. Stuarts, do you know if drama is on tonight?" a student asked in the passing.

"Not tonight. Something's cropped up for Mr. Brooks," Daryl replied. "You'd better ask Mr. Mahila for clarification though as I'm not 100% sure."

"Mr. Stuarts, why are they searching Benjamin's locker?" Susie asked as she opened up her locker and placed a folder on top of the pile of various other folders inside the graffiti decorated locker.

"Police procedures," Daryl replied. "And get rid of that mess before Miss. Teasdale sees it. You know the school's policy on lockers."

Gulping, Susie slammed her locker shut and disappeared off towards the canteen before Daryl had chance to say anything else.

* * *

"Danny Walsbrook?" the police officer asked.

Danny nodded.

"Did you know Benjamin well?"

Danny shook his head. "I only spoke to him on two occasions at the most and both of them were related to breaking Sean and him up from fighting."

"So they fought a lot?" the police officer questioned.

Danny nodded. "But it wasn't anything serious. It was over petty things and they usually gave up after a few punches. Sean isn't the physically fittest kid ever, as you've seen, so he usually just got out of breath after a few punches."

"What happened after Benjamin left Sean's party last night?"

Danny looked down at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs before looking back up at the police officer. "Benjamin left without questions really. He did say that he didn't wanna be there anyway and he left without anything else being said. Sean calmed down within about five minutes and we just sat around talking until I walked Dylan home."

"What time was that?"

"She had to be home for eleven so we left the party at about quarter eleven," Danny paused. "She only lives down the road so we had a slow walk back to hers. She was home for just gone eleven."

"What did you do after that? Did you go back to the party?"

Danny shook his head. "I went home."

* * *

Walking through the corridors, Sean read one of the texts on his phone from his mate, Nathan Fables - an ex-student at Waterloo Road who got expelled for one hundred and one different reasons.

'_Heard that dork u hated got killed last night. Shame. When do u next want sum gear?'_

As Sean began to reply, a hand grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him into the corridor towards the male changing rooms.

"Kimmy, what's up?" Sean asked. "How was dinner with Aunty Marge last night?"

"Great," Kimmy, Sean's twin sister, replied. "What's this about you getting interviewed by the police?"

"Yeah. That Benjamin kid I used to be friends with got killed last night and they wanted to know about the party," Sean smiled as he pressed send on the message.

'_No cash at the mo. Wait 'til weekend when I see my dad and i'll give u a bell.'_

"Mum is gonna kill you about that party by the way. House is wrecked," Kimmy paused. "They don't think you did it, do they?"

"Course they do."

"You didn't do it, did you?"

Sean looked at his sister before putting his phone into his pocket. "You know me better than anyone, Kimmy. Do you really think I could do it?"

Kimmy shook her head. "I just.."

"I wish I did though. Would have loved to see him squirm before he took his last breath."

Kimmy looked at her brother in disgust. "You can't say crap like that. If anyone hears you, they'll think you did it. The police don't know you like I do and if they think you did it, then that's it. They'll do everything and anything to make sure you go down for it, regardless of whether you did do it or not."

"Whatever," Sean sighed. "Can I go yet? I'm hungry."

"Do you have an alibi?" Kimmy asked.

Sean shook his head.

"Well, don't you think you should in case they try to pin the guilt against you?" Kimmy asked.

Sean shrugged his shoulders as he scratched his stomach, looking more interested in the smells that were coming from the school canteen. "I guess."

"I'll say I came back from Aunty Marge's at eleven and was with you for the rest of the night," Kimmy groaned. "What time did everyone leave?"

"Most people left about midnight."

"Okay," Kimmy sighed. "I'll tell the police later and update you on the story. Meet me at the end of the field before next lesson and I'll tell you how it goes."

As Sean disappeared down the corridor in the direction of the food, Kimmy watched after him and shook her head as she let out a huge sigh. After eighteen years of knowing that boy and nearly eighteen years of getting that boy out of all sorts of trouble, Kimmy thought she would be used to it by now.

* * *

As all three girls sat down on the sofa in Shauna's office, they swapped glances with one another as they waited anxiously for the police officer to say something to them. After a few moments, he looked up at them and gave them a friendly smile.

"Did you three know Benjamin well?"

The girls looked at one another, hoping one of them would take one for the team and say something so that the other one didn't have to.

"Benjamin seemed lovely to us. If we saw him in the corridor, he'd always smile at us. We didn't have a problem with him," Emma replied eventually. "It was Sean who had the problem with him. He's the one who needs to be in here longer."

"Sean seemed very upset earlier so he's gone to attend counselling," Shauna added for the police officer's benefit.

"That's bullshit," Penny paused. "He used hand sanitiser under his eye to make him tear up - Mr. Brooks taught us that one first day of term in year seven."

Shauna looked at Penny in confusion. Had she honestly fallen for Sean's scheming ways?

The police officer looked at all three girls in turn before scrabbling some words out onto the paper in front of him.

"He's such a liar. He made it look like he cared about Benjamin but he didn't. Miss, he's hiding something."

* * *

With a staff room full of gossiping members of staff, discussing this morning's drama over the discovery of Benjamin Taylor's body, it was easy to see why none of the students were managing to get any work done when the teachers were so wrapped up in the rumours too.

"I bet that Sean White did it," Layla speculated as she stirred her cup of tea. "He was always a piece of trouble. The amount of fights I had to break up when they were in the same citizenship class was unreal."

"In my lesson yesterday, I had to tell them both to settle down," Yvonne added. "The amount of tension between them both was unreal. I felt as if Sean was about to hit out at Benjamin at any time. It seemed as if they both were egging one another on for a fight so I don't think it was just Sean's fault."

"Yvonne's right," Linda agreed. "Benjamin knew exactly how to wind Sean up and he used it to his own advantage."

As the ladies continued to discuss their theories over the crime, Kevin Thomas walked into the staff room with a piece of paper and pinned it to the noticeboard, taking pride in the placing of it directly in the centre.

"I know right now might not be an appropriate time to do this but I need definite 'yeses' by Friday so I can fully book the trip," Kevin began as he got the attention of the entire staff room. "As you know, our annual History trip for the sixth years happens every November and I need staff to volunteer. I need two males and two females - myself and Shirley are going as well with it being a conjoined French and History trip."

"I'll volunteer," Daryl replied instantly as he sipped his orange juice.

"Teachers only I'm afraid, but thank-you for your offer," Kevin lied.

"I'll go," Taj volunteered.

"Great. Anyone else?" Kevin asked.

"I'll go too," Will smiled.

"Two females. Ladies?" Kevin asked.

"Obviously I'll go," Linda laughed.

"I would love to go but I can't," Susan Bridges confessed. "I don't suppose the kids at the school house would let me go on holiday without them."

"I suppose I can go too," Amber suggested. "Will there be cover for our classes?"

Kevin nodded. "Cover will be arranged."

As Kevin jotted down the names of the staff volunteers, he glanced across at an angered Daryl, who had packed up all his lunch stuff and was storming out of the staff room in the direction of his office to finish his lunch in there.

* * *

With students talking about everything that had happened over the last day with everything going on with the whole Benjamin death, the canteen was filled with the hustle and bustle of voices fighting for dominance. As Muhammad queued up in the lunch queue, he stared down at the bowl of soup as the dinner lady placed it on his tray. It didn't look so appetising as he suffered with a hangover as a result of last night's drinking.

"Is it just me or does that soup look like sick?" Muhammad grunted to Danny as they both carried their trays to an empty table at the side of the canteen to escape all the discussion over Benjamin.

"I think it's just you," Danny laughed, placing his tray on the table and sitting down.

"That is the last time I'm drinking," Muhammad sighed as he poured himself a glass of water and gulped it down.

"It's your birthday on Friday though," Danny paused.

"Okay. It's the last time I'm drinking while being seventeen," Muhammad corrected himself. "Being a year older might make me a little more tolerant to the alcohol."

"You didn't feel like this this morning though. Are you sure it's the alcohol?" Danny asked.

Muhammad nodded. "I felt a bit queasy this morning when I woke up. I guess the shock of hearing about Benjamin made me forget it until now."

"I can't believe he's gone," Danny sighed as he took a bite out of his sandwich.

Muhammad shook his head as he stirred his spoon around the bowl of soup, looking down at it as if it was poisonous.

"Danny, don't suppose I can have a quick word with my brother in private do you?" Taj Mahali asked as he walked over to the boys' table and placed his apple and bottle of water on the table.

"Sure," Danny smiled as he stood up, looking quite relieved to get an excuse to leave the table for a bit. "I need to go find Sean anyway. I'll catch up with you in science mate."

"Alright," Muhammad nodded as he continued to stir the soup, completely failing to acknowledge his brother's presence as Taj took Danny's seat at the table.

"Heard you were at that party last night," Taj paused as he took the lid of his water bottle off and took a sip. "Mum's gonna flip if she finds out you weren't stopping at dad's."

"She won't find out though, will she?" Muhammad sighed. "Remember that little agreement we both made when you got the job here? Whatever you find out at school never goes home with you, just like whatever happens at home never comes to school. Tell mum and I can easily upload all those photos from our holiday to India three years ago when you got violent diarrhoea to the school website. Mum'll forgive me in time for drinking and going to a party and lying, but those photos will go viral and your reputation at this school will be made into a joke."

"Okay. I won't tell her," Taj promised, looking slightly worried about his brother's threat. "But just promise me that you have nothing to do with Benjamin's death. I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth."

"I have nothing to do with it. None of my mates do," Muhammad groaned as he pushed the soup away from him. "The police just wanted to ask us a few questions. Don't you think if I had done something, they wouldn't have let me go?"

"Okay. Okay."

"Can we just drop it now?" Muhammad asked.

"Sure. I'm gonna be late home tonight. Got to try and organise a memorial for Benjamin with the rest of the staff so let mum know when you get in. I'll bring a takeaway in with me though so she doesn't have to worry about cooking dinner," Taj smiled.

"Pizza?"

"Pizza."

* * *

Taking a deep breath as she stood outside the headteacher's office, Kimmy brought her hand up and knocked gently on the door.

"Come in," Shauna called.

As Kimmy walked into the office, Shauna looked at her in confusion.

"Miss. Teasdale, I know you don't know who I am but I'm Kimmy White - I'm Sean's sister," Kimmy explained. "I don't know if it's necessary or if it'll help the police with their enquiries but I've heard a few rumours that Sean is the suspect and I just wanna clear my brother's name."

"Sean isn't a suspect," Shauna smiled reassuringly. "But if you want to speak to the police, you can."

Kimmy glanced down at her shaking hands as she stood in the doorway as a nervous wreck. "I just don't want my brother to be treated like a bad person anymore. Everybody think he's just a bad person and blame him for everything that goes wrong, and I know sometimes - well, most of the time it is him, but he doesn't mean it. He's just, he's just messed up a bit. He doesn't mean to be the way he is. People just misunderstand him. Like with Benjamin, he knew exactly what buttons to push of Sean's to get him to react in the way he wanted. They used to be best friends and then Benjamin turned all nasty when we all moved to Waterloo Road in year seven. I know because I saw it all happening. People blamed Sean for his outbursts towards Benjamin but 99% of the time it was Benjamin starting them. Even though Sean just didn't know when to stop, I know he could never kill anyone. He's not that sort of person. He cares. Deep down. He really cares."

"It's okay, Kimmy," Shauna smiled as she went over to hug the distraught student. "We've just had confirmation from the police that they've looked at the place where Benjamin died and the post mortem results have come in - Benjamin died by falling over a rock. It's trivial but from the evidence, he fell over a stone on his walk home from the party, knocked his head on the ground and a blood vessel ruptured."

* * *

As the lunchtime bell rang signalling the start of the next lesson, Kimmy rushed out to the school ground and looked out onto the field to see Sean sat down on the grass, playing with handfuls of grass as he waited for his sister, just as she promised. Within seconds of the bell ringing, all the students that were sat on the school field began collecting all their belongings up and made their way back into the school building for an afternoon of learning. Apart from Kimmy. Smiling at her brother as he looked up at her, Kimmy rushed across the grass to the far end of the fields.

"So?"

"The police have closed the case. Turns out Benjamin fell over a rock, knocked his head and ruptured a blood vessel," Kimmy explained.

Sean looked up at her in confusion.

"You're off the hook, Sean. It was an accident. You're not a suspect," Kimmy smiled as she sat down on the grass beside him.

"I guess I should thank myself lucky?" Sean suggested.

"Only if you had something to hide."

Sean shook his head. "I swear, Kimmy, I didn't do anything. You know I would tell you if I did - I tell you everything, even when I know I've done something bad and shouldn't really tell you."

"Just try and stay out of trouble, Sean?" Kimmy asked. "I'm sick of fighting your battles for you. We've practically only got a few months until we leave here for good. Do you think you can stay out of trouble for that long? For me?"

"I can try," Sean sighed.

"Don't try," Kimmy replied as she stood up and looked back down at her brother, who remained on the field, playing with the clumps of grass that had been left by the lawnmowers over the summer holidays. "Just do it."

* * *

"Right, for this year, I have organised for you to all have lab partners for when we do coursework as it just makes the whole thing much more easier and means there is less work for you all to do as, believe me, there is a lot for you all to get through," Amber began to tell the class as they eventually settled down at various tables in the science lab. "You'll find the names of each lab partners dotted on each table. Please find your tables and get introduced to your lab partners. I have made a note of each person's place so don't go switching names so you're with your friends as I will know."

Followed by a chorus of groans, every student stood up and moved over to find their names. Looking satisfied, Amber perched herself on the edge of her stool at the front of the classroom and watched the students as they reluctantly sat with their assigned lab partners and began to introduce themselves to one another.

"Miss, what is our first experiment?" Susie enthusiastically asked after a few moments as she sat beside her lab partner, Penny Spencer.

"Today we're going to go right back to basics with chemistry to refresh your budding brains on chemical reactions," Amber smiled, happy that she had finally managed to get a class who were wanting to participate in the lesson. "Quite a simple question but what is the difference between reversible reactions and irreversible reactions?"

Five hands shot straight up in the air.

"Luke, is it?" Amber asked as she pointed over to the new student.

Luke nodded. "A reversible reaction is where you can get the original substances of a chemical reaction back to the state they were originally in, whereas an irreversible reaction creates an entirely new product using the two substances, meaning it is impossible to get the original substances back."

"Excellent," Amber smiled. "Today we're going to recapping reversible reactions and we're going to be developing your understanding on equilibrium."

As Amber continued to talk to the class, Alfie looked at his lab partner, Dylan and smiled at her, waiting for a response back from her.

"What?" Dylan laughed nervously, feeling quite paranoid with Alfie looking at her.

"You have amazing eyes."

Dylan grinned at Alfie as she looked up from her notes. "Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome," Alfie smiled.

"Dylan, what's equilibrium?" Emma whispered from the next table.

"What an excellent question, Emma," Amber said from the front of the room, writing the keyword in mention on the board. "Emma, since you obviously know what it means as you were questioning Dylan if she knew what it meant, how about you enlighten the class with a definition of equilibrium."

Emma gulped as she looked up at Amber, who was smiling smugly to her flabbergasted student. "Um," Emma paused, trying to rack her memory for any clue as to what it meant. "Equilibrium is.. it's the.."

"Does anybody want to help Emma out?" Amber asked.

Dylan put her hand up.

"Dylan."

"I'm not 100% about it as Mr. Fields didn't really teach us it properly but is equilibrium the condition in which both the reactants of a chemical reason are balanced with regards to the forward reaction and the reverse reaction?" Dylan asked.

Amber nodded. "That's correct."

"Nerd," Alfie teased as Dylan continued to make notes in her book.

"Just because I won't be flipping burgers when I'm older doesn't mean I'm a nerd," Dylan joked, winking towards her lab partner as he laughed at her lighthearted banter.

* * *

Walking up the cobbled path towards the front door, Shauna gave a supportive but half-hearted smile to her colleague, Wayne Brooks. As they both reached the front door, they took a synchronised deep breath and Shauna knocked firmly on the door. The curtains in the front window twitched slightly before the sound of keys came from the lock. Once the door opened slightly, a woman poked her head from around it with red raw eyes that was still filled with tears of heartbreak.

"Mrs. Taylor, I'm Shauna Teasdale - the new headteacher at Waterloo Road and this is Benjamin's form tutor, Wayne Brooks," Shauna said, introducing the both of them to Benjamin's mother. "We just wanted to come see how you and your family were coping and you give you all our condolences. Nobody in the school had a bad thing to say about it - the teachers said he was a pleasure to teach."

Benjamin's mother opened the door fully, allowing them to enter her house. Shauna took the lead and then Wayne followed her behind.

"Can I get you anything?" Benjamin's mother asked as she showed them into the lounge that was filled with cards of sympathy and bouquets of flowers. "Tea? Coffee?"

"I'm fine thank-you," Shauna replied, taking a seat on the sofa.

"I'm fine too, thank-you," Wayne smiled, unsure of what to say as he sat beside Shauna.

"None of us could believe it when we found out," Shauna said as Benjamin's mother sat down on the armchair opposite to them. "I'd only met Benjamin once, but he was so lovely. Mr. Brooks obviously knows him a lot better than I did, but every teacher I spoke to today only had nice things to say about your son. He is a true credit to your family."

"Mum, I'm going to.."

As Benjamin's younger sister walked into the room and realised her drama teacher and new head teacher were sat on her sofa, she paused.

"Jasmine, take as much time off school as you need," Shauna insisted. "We'll help you catch up with any work you miss. Just focus on grieving for your brother. I know it won't be easy but the school is always there to support you."

"Thanks," Jasmine said, lifting the corners of her mouth to form a slight smile as she looked at her teachers.

"What is it, love?" Benjamin's mother asked.

"I'm just going for a walk. School'll be finishing soon and I just need to see my friends to take my mind off it for a bit," Jasmine replied. "I won't be home late. I just need some space."

Once her mother had nodded, Jasmine disappeared down the hallway followed by the front door opening and closing a few moments later.

"She's taking it so well," the bereaving mother smiled. "She's been my rock today. From this morning when we had the police waking us up to now, she's been a God send."

"I know it's the last thing you want to even be thinking about today considering the circumstances but the school are organising a memorial for this for next week and we'd love it if you and your family would attend," Wayne paused. "Benjamin was loved by so many of us and I know all his friends and teachers want to support you through this incredibly tough time."

"That'll be lovely."

* * *

Once all the equipment had been put away neatly, Amber turned to face her class - her favourite class so far in the two days she had been teaching at Waterloo Road. "Good work today guys," she smiled as she watched them all put their belongings into their bags. "Remember the assignment is due in for this time next week. And I want no excuses from any of you - you're all capable of doing it and it isn't a really demanding essay."

Closing up her folder and putting her textbook into her bag, Dylan got ready to go home. As she walked out of the science lab and down the stairs, heading in the direction of her locker, she felt a hand grab hold of her shoulder. Turning around in the middle of the stairs, she was surprised a little to see Danny standing right behind her with a smile across his face.

"I thought you had football practice tonight?" Dylan smiled.

"What?" Danny laughed, loooking at her, a little lost in confusion.

"I was talking to Sean earlier and he said something about you having practice with your balls tonight?" Dylan asked. "I just presumed he meant football practice."

Rolling his eyes, Danny automatically knew what Sean was meaning by that - and it was miles away from the conventional football practice. "Oh, I gave that up last term," Danny lied, not letting Sean's comment make things awkward between the pair.

"Okay."

"Anyway, I have to go do a few things before I leave quickly but meet me at the bike shed in ten minutes?" Danny suggested.

"Why?" Dylan giggled with uncertainty.

"Just meet me there."

Reluctantly, Dylan nodded in agreement before heading down the corridor to her locker as Danny darted off back up the stairs to run errands. Behind her, Amber headed down the stairs, struggling with all her folders and books.

"Hey, hey, hey. Let me take those," Taj insisted as she noticed her struggling from the bottom of the stairs so rushed up to help her.

"I really need to invest in a suitcase for these things," Amber joked, passing a few of the folders and books to Taj.

"Or how about a laptop so you don't need any of them?" Taj grinned.

"Oh, I can't work technology at all," Amber sighed. "I was never good at computers when I was at school. Always bottom of the class in ICT."

"I can teach you one day if you want?" Taj offered.

"Maybe," Amber smiled.

"One condition though."

"What?"

"You teach me about the periodic table because I skipped that lesson when I was at school and now it just bugs me when I can't answer a question on a quiz show about it," Taj grinned.

"Deal," Amber laughed.

* * *

Strolling across the school grounds as the students gradually emptied out of the building and dispersed into the neighbouring streets, Dylan looked across at the sun that was slowly setting in the sky and smiled. As she got in the bike shelter, she put her bag on one of the empty bike storage units and rooted through it, searching for her compact mirror. Checking out her reflection, she quickly reapplied a fresh layer of shimmery pink lipstick and ran her fingers through her loose curls.

"You made it," Danny grinned as he joined Dylan in the shelter.

"Yeah," Dylan smiled, shoving her mirror back into her bag before Danny caught sight of it. "I said I would."

"Good, because I need to talk to you," Danny said, taking hold of her hands as she put her bag back over her shoulder.

"What?" Dylan laughed - something she did when she was nervous or unsure about a situation.

"I like you, Dylan."

"And I like you."

"I mean really like you. And I don't usually like people."

"Like as in 'like like'?" Dylan questioned.

Danny nodded.

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh."

"So what are you going to do about it?" Dylan asked.

"What do you mean what am I going to do about it?" Danny smiled as Dylan took a step towards him so she was standing inches away from him. "What do you want me to do about it?"

"This," Dylan paused.

Before Danny had any chance to say anything in response to Dylan, she had already leant towards him and connected their lips together. Kissing passionately, Danny allowed his schoolbag to slowly drop off his shoulder before moving his hands up to hold Dylan closer to him, pulling her in with his hands in the arch of her back. Moving her hands up, Dylan put her hands at the back of Danny's neck and let her fingers fall into his soft hair.

"That," Danny laughed as he took a breath from the kiss. "That was good."

"Only good?" Dylan grinned.

Danny winked as he picked his schoolbag back up from the floor. "Come on," he said, holding out his hand for Dylan to take. "I'll walk you home."

"Hold on," Dylan paused, pulling him back towards her.

Taking her thumb up to his lips, she rubbed her lipstick from around his mouth. "Better?" he asked.

"Better," she grinned, taking hold of his hand again before they walked out of the school grounds with their fingers intertwined.


	3. Episode Three

Walking up through the front gates of Waterloo Road, Jasmine Taylor stared up at the golden lettering that hung proudly above the entrance to the school.

"Waterloo Road," she murmured to herself as she continued to trace each gold letter with her eyes.

"Jasmine," one of the year ten girls smiled to her as a group of Jasmine's friends rushed down the steps to greet their friend.

"We weren't expecting you back so soon," another girl said, hugging her tightly.

Jasmine nodded. "I wasn't going to come back yet but being at home is driving me crazy now."

"Even more crazier than this place?" another girl joked.

Jasmine nodded a second time.

"Come on," one girl smiled as she linked arms with Jasmine. "Let's go to the canteen and get some chocolate. You look like you need cheering up."

Putting on a false smile, Jasmine followed her friends up the stairs and into the school. As she walked through the corridors of Waterloo Road, she looked even more uncertain on if she was ready to be back yet. It had only been seven days since she had lost her brother. Every single inch of this place reminded her of him. It didn't help that she was returning back to the school on the day of the memorial all the staff and students were holding for him. A huge photo of Benjamin's face stood in the corner of the main entrance, surrounded by cards and flowers all dedicated to her brother.

* * *

With his arm wrapped tightly around Dylan, Danny kissed the top of her forehead as they stood talking to Kimmy and Muhammad - both of whom were grinning at the couple's publicly displayed affection.

"Stop it," Dylan laughed, gently hitting her new boyfriend off her as he began to shower her cheek with kisses. "You're so embarrassing."

"Have you guys done the science assignment yet?" Sean asked as he walked over to the group in the middle of the school car park, chomping away on a bacon sandwich from the canteen - his second one of the day.

Dylan nodded. So did Muhammad. So did Kimmy. Danny awkwardly shook his head.

"Danny, you said you were gonna do it this weekend," Dylan groaned. "I can't be with you if you're just gonna rely on me to do your homework."

"I'll do it at lunch. I promise."

Dylan rolled her eyes as he draped his arms over her shoulders and hugged her from behind. "Yeah, like I believe that."

"Do what I'm gonna do and say you were too stricken with grief by Benny's death to do the homework," Sean joked - the only issue with his joke was that nobody laughed.

"How long are you going to disrespect him for, Sean?" Muhammad raged. "We get you weren't his biggest fan, but it's getting boring now. He's dead. Can't you bury the hatred and just let it go?"

Looking defeated, Sean shrugged his shoulders as he took another bite of his sandwich. "Whatever."

* * *

"Don't forget that this week I'll be observing a few of your lessons," Dale Bushley announced as he flicked through the bundle of letters that had been placed in his pigeon hole in the staff room. "It will be unannounced so be prepared."

"Does that mean we have to do lesson plans?" Shirley asked, guzzling on her cup of tea.

Dale didn't respond; instead, he just turned to her and threw daggering eyes at her. That was when Shirley knew she had twenty minutes to prepare a weeks worth of lesson plans - something told her that this wasn't going to work out the way she hoped.

* * *

With the cold September air still surrounding the school and its fields, all the boys of Will Rogers' PE group jogged into the fog to be followed by all the girls dawdling with their arms stuck inside their jackets, complaining about how cold it was. The weather, however, didn't seem to phase the boys in the slightest - they found the girls' reactions pretty amusing.

"Come on, girls," Will laughed with encouragement as he ran onto the field to join his sixth year class for their lesson. "Get your arms out of your jackets and jog around the field. It'll get you moving and you'll warm up a lot quicker by doing that. Get going. Go on."

The boys set out without hesitation, racing one another as they did a lap of their school field. The girls, on the other hand, huddled around in a pack beside Will, pleading for him to cancel the lesson.

"A bit of exercise will set you up for a day of learning," Will smiled to the girls. "Go on. It'll get your blood pumping and warm you up."

"I can think of better ways to get my blood pumping, sir," Emma winked in a teasing and seductive tone.

As the majority of the girls giggled at Emma's comment towards their attractive teacher, Will looked at Emma, trying to conceal his laugh. "Go on, or I'll make it two laps."

"But sir.."

"Three laps?"

Reluctantly, the girls began to jog around the school field, groaning in defeat as they trudged on the frosted grass. The sun was shining in the sky above their heads, trying to burn the fog off, but it still didn't help the girls' motivation to participate in the lesson - they would have much rather stayed by Will Rogers and watched him carry out the lesson by himself.

On everyone's return, Will began instructing his class on what they were all going to do for the lesson. As soon as the students got into groups of four amongst themselves and began to work on football tackling, Emma removed herself from her group and walked over to Will as if she was on a mission - well, in a way, she was.

"Sir, I don't think I'll be able to do football now," she sighed, adding a limp to her walk as he looked up at her. "I must have twisted my ankle when we were jogging."

"Okay," Will said, knowing exactly what she was playing at. "I guess you can sit out for this lesson. You can help me set up the running track for my next lesson with the year eights."

"Okay, sir."

As Will picked up some cones and began to outline the faded white running track lines with them, Emma stayed a few steps behind him, admiring the view as he bent down slightly to put the cones down. Biting her lip, Emma felt quite accomplished with herself as she checked out Will Rogers' talent.

"Look at her," Dylan laughed as she stopped running for a few moments and nodded over to Emma, who was still perving on their PE teacher. "She's gagging for him."

"Are you gagging for Danny then, Dylan?" Sean teased.

Dylan looked over her shoulder at Sean. "Sean, I do really feel sorry for you. I mean, if you're not gloating about Benjamin's death, you're trying to make fun at somebody else. Do you get a thrill from making everyone around you unhappy or does it just come naturally to you?"

"Someone's getting tetchy about it," Sean laughed. "Are the rumours true though, Dylan? Are you still a virgin?"

Dylan looked away from Sean, completely ignoring him as she took the football from Danny and began to dribble it away from them.

"Dylan?" Sean paused. "You're still a virgin, aren't you?"

"Sean," Danny snapped. "Stop it."

"Oh my God, that's hilarious!"

"Sean, just leave it. Whether she is or isn't, it really doesn't affect you. Can't you just back out of everybody's business for once?" Danny asked. "You always get involved in things that don't involve you. Penny was right last week. Just stay out of it. Get your own lives instead of getting involved in everyone else's."

"But.."

"Sean, I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of virginity anyway," Muhammad smiled. "It's not like you've lost yours yet anyway."

Sean's face dropped as he looked at Muhammad in shock.

"You're still a virgin?" Danny questioned. "What happened to losing it when you were fourteen?"

"I.." Sean stuttered, trying to gather his words together so he didn't make the situation any more embarrassing. "I.. I did.. I don't know what Muhammad is on about."

"Liar."

"Oh, forget this," Sean groaned as he threw his football bib on the ground and stormed off towards the school building. "PE is such a waste anyway."

Jogging over to where Dylan had dribbled the football to, Danny tried to catch up with her as Muhammad stayed behind, making up for Emma's place with Penny, Susie and Kimmy.

"Is it true?" Penny laughed. "Hasn't Sean lost his v-card yet?"

Muhammad grinned to her with a smirk. "He makes out he has and sex is the big be all and end all, but he admitted to me over summer that he's still a virgin."

"Tragic," Penny gloated.

Kimmy, stood awkwardly, looked after her brother as he barged his way into the school through the doors to the PE changing rooms. Part of her wanted to go chase after him, but part of her also wanted him to just have some space by himself - she couldn't spend her entire life chasing after his little dramas.

At the other end of the field, Danny caught up with Dylan and watched as she kicked the ball gently with her foot as Will had taught them all last week.

"Ignore him," Danny paused, breaking the silence as Dylan continued to work on her footwork. "He's just getting involved in our lives because he doesn't have one for himself."

"I guess."

"Dylan," Danny took a breath as he took hold of her hand and pulled her towards him, making her look up at him. "It doesn't matter if you are a virgin, you know? It's not something to be embarrassed about. Actually, it's something to be proud of. With some of the girls in this school, it's rare."

Dylan broke a slight smile.

"I don't care if you are or aren't."

"I am."

"And that doesn't matter to me. It doesn't change the way I feel about you," Danny smiled, bringing his hand to her face as he softly caressed her cheek with his thumb as he looked into her eyes. "And I promise you. If, and when, we do, it'll be special. I promise."

Dylan nodded as she wrapped her arms around Danny, holding onto him as she burrowed her head into his chest.

* * *

Throwing his backpack over his shoulder as he walked out of the boys' changing rooms and down the steps to join the main corridor of the school, Muhammad glanced behind him and stopped in his tracks as he noticed Jasmine walking down the corridor in his direction.

"Jas," he smiled, unsure of how to talk to her. "Are you alright?"

"As alright as I can be I suppose," she replied, breaking a smile for his benefit. "Sorry I missed your birthday."

"Don't worry about it," Muhammad paused. "I'm so sorry about your brother. I would have texted you but I didn't know what to say."

"It's alright," Jasmine nodded as they walked down the corridor together, engaging in small talk in an attempt to hide the awkwardness that had invaded them.

"How are you coping?" he asked, looking at her in concern - even he could tell something had changed in her.

"I'm getting through it one day at a time. I just miss him so much," Jasmine paused. "The other night I actually forgot he had gone. I went into his room to ask for some hair spray and forgot he wasn't there anymore. I'd do anything to have him make fun of me again or throw a cushion at me as soon as I walk into a room. He annoyed me so much, but I miss it now he's gone."

"He's always gonna be with you, Jas," Muhammad said, trying to reassure her. "He didn't admit it to you, but I know he loved you so much and thought the world of you."

Jasmine broke a slight smile as she looked at Muhammad. "I've got to get to English now but ring me some time."

Muhammad nodded, leaning across and giving her a friendly hug. "Take care of yourself. I'm always here if you need someone to talk to."

As Jasmine continued to walk down the corridor in the direction of the English classrooms, Muhammad stood still in the middle of the crowded corridor, much to the annoyance of all the other students who were battling towards their next lessons. Watching her from afar, Muhammad had a look of emotionlessness across his face. A few moments passed by and he reluctantly turned around and began to head towards his next lesson.

* * *

Letting her long blonde hair fall from her ponytail once she had got changed out of her PE kit and into her school uniform, Emma shoved her PE kit into one of the empty lockers in the changing rooms. Turning around, she was slightly shocked to see the changing rooms empty apart from Will, who was stood in the doorway smiling at her.

"Sir, you almost gave me a heart attack," she laughed.

"Sorry," he apologised. "Thought everybody had left."

"It's okay. I was just about to leave."

"Well done today, Emma. With helping me set up the field," Will smiled. "How is your ankle now?"

"What? Oh.. yeah, my ankle. It's feeling a lot better, thank-you."

With an awkward silence filling the changing room, Emma picked up her schoolbag and slumped it over her shoulder, looking up at Will as she did so.

"Sir, I hope you don't mind me asking but do you think you could coach me for long-distance running?" Emma asked. "My gran died last year of cancer and I wanna run in the marathon next term in her memory."

"I don't see why not," Will smiled. "Come to my office after school and we'll arrange something."

"Okay," Emma nodded, smiling innocently to him. "Thank-you."

Giving him one last glance, Emma walked out of the girls' changing room, leaving a waft of perfume following along behind her as she disappeared into the corridor. Will, watching her leave, sighed as soon as the door closed behind her. Sitting down on the bench in the middle of the room, he put his head into his hands and let out a huge exhale of breath.

* * *

Ruffling a few pieces of paper about that had been scattered onto her desk as she hastily planned her lessons - something of which she never did, Shirley panicked as she looked up at the windows that lined her classroom wall and saw Dale parading down the corridor, stopping outside her door to speak with the students that were queued up, waiting for the lesson to begin.

"Thank-you for waiting so patiently," Shirley calmly said as she opened the door and greeted her year nine students. "Please come in, take a seat and get all your equipment out."

"Miss, I forgot my book," one of the students confessed.

"Darren, this is the second time this has happened and we've only been back in lessons for six school days," Shirley sighed, reacting in the way she knew Dale would want her to react. "Get some paper from the back of the room but I need to see your book in the next lesson otherwise you'll have to purchase another one from reception."

As the students filed into the classroom, surprisingly following her instructions, Shirley smiled at them. "Ah, Mr. Bushley," she said, pretending to only just notice him as the last student entered the classroom. "Will you be observing my lesson?"

"I will, Miss. Brand.

"Well, please come in."

Following Shirley into the classroom, Dale gave the French teacher a smirking grin as he could see right through her acting front. Dale knew exactly what Shirley was like - the unorganised, belittling teacher that all the students complained about. It looked like this lesson was going to be very entertaining on his behalf, and he was going to enjoy every moment of it.

* * *

As Danny sat down at a work table in the school library, Dylan picked out a few textbooks from the shelves before piling them up beside where Danny had sat down. Much to his reluctance, Danny picked up the top one, flicked through it and closed it back up, placing it onto the pile again within a matter of seconds.

"What are these for?" Danny asked.

"Studying," Dylan joked. "You know, that thing students are supposed to do."

"I know that, but why?"

"I said I'd help you do the science assignment," Dylan explained. "We have just under two hours to do it - plenty of time."

"Can't I just copy yours?" Danny groaned, not acting enthusiastic over Dylan's plan in the slightest. "It'll take ten minutes."

"No, Danny."

"Fine."

* * *

"Who can tell me what this word says?" Shirley asked her class as she wrote a French word on the whiteboard behind her.

Once receiving no offers of answers to her question, Shirley took it on herself to volunteer someone to do it. "Jess, how about you?" she smiled to a timid girl at the back of the room, who looked as if she was doing everything and anything to avoid having to say anything in the class. "Can you give it a go? Remember, it doesn't matter if you get it wrong - we can learn from our mistakes, so give it a go."

"Um.. I.. Ah.. Jay aye."

"Jay aye? Since when did French people speak like that.." Shirley paused as she noticed Dale's look of disapproval in the corner of the classroom. "It's j'ai."

Jess, looking a little embarrassed, sunk back into her chair and remained inclusive for the rest of the lesson as Shirley continued to make the same mistakes - belittling her students, making fun of their mistakes and lecturing them on how important pronunciation was when learning a language but failing to pronounce the majority of the words she said correctly.

By the end of the lesson, the majority of the students had become unruly, disrupting the minority of the students who actually wanted to learn, who had resulted in teaching themselves from the out of date textbooks that Shirley had handed out to them half way through the lesson when she gave up on following her last minute lesson plan.

As the students dismissed themselves and headed to their next lessons, Dale stood up from the seat he had been observing from and walked over to Shirley, who was sat at her desk.

"I know the students are a bit of a handful but they usually participate a bit better than this," Shirley explained. "I don't know what happened to them."

"They're not the problem," Dale paused. "Shirley, it's clear to see from this lesson that you really don't have what it takes to be a patience. You have no understanding. You lack enthusiasm for your subject and students. You belittle the students, making them not want to participate. You take fun of their inability to learn, something which is all down to your attitude towards the students and the teaching. After that observation, I have no choice but to report you to the teaching board, who will subsequently put you on probation."

"Probation? I'm not a student," Shirley laughed. "I know how to teach."

"Your classes' results for the last three consecutive years in GCSEs and A-Levels beg to differ," Dale argued. "Your teaching skills are non-existent and your attitude is abysmal."

"So what will happen on probation?" Shirley asked, not seeing the seriousness in the matter.

"You will be monitored for a month and if there are no improvements made, you will be fired."

As Dale left the room, leaving Shirley to come to terms with the result of her observation, she screwed up the pile of lesson plans up and threw them towards the waste paper bin that stood full in the corner of the room. The crumpled ball of paper fell onto the ground, missing the target by inches.

* * *

Sitting beside her boyfriend, Dylan showed Danny articles in the books she had picked out from the shelf as Danny took notes, arranging them into an essay.

"See this one?" Dylan asked. "This shows the importance of chemical reactions within everyday life. It didn't say it on the specification, but if you use it, it shows enhanced research and you'll be able to get more marks."

Danny stopped putting his pen to the paper and looked up at Dylan with a smile on his face. "You do realise this is probably the first time I've ever done homework on time."

"I know," Dylan grinned. "And you're gonna get an amazing grade for it."

"It's all down to you."

Dylan shook her head as she put the textbook down on the table and sat back into the chair to look at him. "It's down to you. You might not want to do and I might be helping you a bit, but I'm showing you what to do - you're the one doing it. You could easily say you don't want to do it."

Danny flashed a grin to Dylan before continuing to write the essay. Dylan watched as his pen flew across the page - the ink leaving words on the paper as Danny continued to look up at the book before writing even more words.

* * *

Wandering around the various tables in her science classroom, Amber Hussein looked down at her students as they eagerly made notes in their books. "According to the Law of Conservation of Energy, energy can be transformed. It cannot be created or destroyed. Reactions, for example, use the energy from its reactants to transform the energy to the new product from the reaction," she explained. "So, Macaulay, if I burn a candle, how do you think the energy is transformed in that reaction?"

Just as Macaulay was about to give his answer, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," Amber called as she turned around to look at the door.

"Sorry to interrupt your lesson, Miss. Hussein, but an urgent message for you came," Taj smiled once he walked into the classroom with an envelope in his hand.

"Thank-you," she grinned, taking the envelope from him.

As she began to peel back the envelope and reached inside to get the message, Taj disappeared out of the classroom, closing the door behind him.

_"Dinner tonight? 5pm in my classroom? Not very romantic but I'm behind on marking"_

Grinning to herself, Amber slotted the piece of paper back into the envelope and put it down on her desk.

* * *

"Miss.."

"Yeah, sorry," Amber apologised, shaking herself back to reality as she focused on the class - just as she was supposed to. "Where were we?"

* * *

Within seconds of the school bell ringing, signally the start of lunch, the corridors of Waterloo Road became crammed full of all the students and staff members heading to their various places to eat lunch. With the majority of the students heading towards the canteen in one direction and the majority of the staff heading towards the staff room in the opposite direction, a blockage happened in the centre of the main corridor.

"Keep to the left!" Shirley growled as she barricaded her way through the students. "You will go to the cooler if I see you as so much step over the middle of the corridor!"

* * *

Inside the staff room, Will was stood in the kitchenette area, pinging his lunch in the microwave as Yvonne rummaged through the staff's communal fridge in search of her own lunch.

"So Will, how are you finding it here?" Yvonne asked as she finally laid her hands on her tortilla wrap and pulled it out the fridge, making sure she didn't cause an avalanche with everyone else's lunches.

"It's great," Will smiled. "What about you?"

"It's alright so far."

"Good."

"Do you reckon one night, if you're not busy that is, you'd fancy going for a drink?" Yvonne asked nervously. "I don't really know many people here so it'd be nice to get to know you and a few others."

"Sounds good," Will nodded. "In fact, my wife and I are going for a few drinks tonight with her work colleagues at Havelock High. You're welcome to join us."

At the mention of him having a wife, Yvonne's smile turned into a face of disappointment. Looking down at the kitchen counter in between where her and Will were stood, she nodded. "Yeah, I'll let you know for definite at the end of the day though?"

Will smiled. "Sounds good."

* * *

After watching the chemicals in various test tubes bubble up above the bunsen burner, Dylan began to make notes on the experiment.

"So what do you think?" Danny asked, leaning on the table next to her and watching the bubbles as well.

"I've arranged them in terms of reactivity, but I don't know," Dylan paused as she grabbed the tongs and picked up one of the substances. "This just seems like it's doing nothing."

"No, I meant about my text," Danny laughed.

Looking at Danny in confusion, Dylan picked up her phone from her bag that was beneath the workbench and read the text displayed on her phone.

"_Everyone's off to the pub tonight so wanna stop at mine afterwards?"_

Dylan reread the text a few times before looking up at Danny. "I don't know. We have school tomorrow and I need to start working on this French coursework," Dylan paused as she noticed Danny's disappointment.

"Stopping at mine doesn't mean we'll.. you know."

Dylan nodded. "I know. I didn't even think about that. I just don't know."

"My dad's at a meeting and my mum won't mind you stopping over," Danny smiled. "Come on. Please."

"Okay," Dylan reluctantly agreed.

"Good," Danny grinned, kissing her cheek.

"Danny and Dylan, the class appreciate that you have some chemistry going on between you two at the moment but it isn't the chemistry we're after in this lesson so could you please leave the kissing until after the lesson?" Amber teased, calling them both out in front of the entire class. "And Danny, get back to your own lab partner and stop stealing Alfie's."

As Danny hesitantly disappeared back to the back of the room to Kimmy, who had done the entire experiment by herself, Alfie slid closer to Dylan and watched her as she concentrated on the experiment.

"Don't let him make you do things you don't want to, Dylan," Alfie whispered as he passed her the universal indicator solution. "You don't need people like that."

"He's not," Dylan smiled as she looked up to her lab partner. "I know I don't need people like that, but honestly, he's not like that."

"Okay," Alfie replied, completely unconvinced.

"What you doing tonight?"

"Nothing really."

"Well, why don't you come to pub? Everyone's going to be there apparently. It'll be a nice little send off for Benjamin after the memorial," Dylan suggested.

"Are you sure Danny won't mind me tagging along?"

"It's not up to Danny who I hang around with," Dylan laughed. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Okay."

* * *

With the final bell of the day ringing out through the corridors, the usual buzz that would erupt through the school's building was nowhere to be seen. The atmosphere was tense and could have easily been cut like a knife as all the students piled out into the school grounds. Whilst the rest of the years disappeared out the school gates as fast as they could, all the sixth year students congregated onto the school field along with a few year ten students, including Jasmine Taylor.

Once everyone had settled down as they stood in a circle around the corner of the football pitch, Shauna took a step forward. "Benjamin Taylor was a much-loved student and a valued member of our Waterloo Road family. He was known and loved by so many students and pupils," she began as she looked around at the many faces that surrounded her in the middle of the school's field. "He was known for his ability of making people laugh regardless of what mood they were in and he was known for his equal love of football."

Wrapping his arm around her, Muhammad began to comfort Jasmine as she began to cry at the lovely words being spoken about her beloved brother.

"Benjamin sadly died last week but he will forever be remembered by Waterloo Road as that bright, intelligent and positive student who brought so much to this school," Shauna continued. "Benjamin's best friend, Jack, wants to say a few words so Jack, whenever you're ready.."

As Shauna took a step backwards to join the rest of the staff, Jack Morris looked down at the grassy ground before taking a quick look at his classmates.

"Not many people knew Benjamin like I knew him. And that's a shame because he was one of the most funniest, kindest, loyalest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing," Jack paused as he took a deep breath, composing his words so they made sense. "I don't think anybody will be able to replace him. He was always there to cheer me up when I was down - whether it was about trivial little things like girls or losing a football match to life-changing things like family deaths. Nothing was too challenging for Benjamin. He was always determined to do his very best."

Clinging onto Muhammad, Jasmine sobbed even more.

"He's gonna be greatly missed by everyone who knew him and I don't think our lives are ever gonna be the same again, not without Benjamin here."

Silence took over the school field as Jack and Benjamin's other friend, Mark, planted a tree a few metres away from the pitch's corner.

"This tree is gonna be watching over every football match that happens at Waterloo Road for many years to come, just as Benjamin would have done if he was still alive. I just hope this tree doesn't hurl abuse at people when they do a tackle wrong or let the opposing team score abuse," Jack joked, making a little light-heartedness of the situation.

With people beginning to filter off, back towards the school building or onto the streets to make their own ways home, Jasmine knelt beside the tree and looked up at the branches. A little golden plaque was displayed on the floor in front of the tree.

'_In loving memory of Benjamin Taylor - a loving student, a keen footballer and an amazing brother'_

Sniffling as she traced the words with her finger, Jasmine couldn't help but wish her brother was here to comfort her. Instead of being comforted by her brother, Muhammad bent down and put his arm around her shoulder.

"He's so proud of you, Jas," Muhammad whispered. "Never forget that."

On the other end of the school field, Shauna stepped off the grass and began making her way into the school building. After saying 'goodbye' to a few students as they left the building, Shauna walked into the lobby and froze in shock as to what she saw. Scrawled all over the wall of cards and messages people had been leaving in memory of Benjamin were the words 'traitor'. To make matters worse, the portrait of Benjamin that stood in the corner of the lobby had been decorated with doodles that it didn't even resemble Benjamin anymore.

"Sean White!" Shauna bellowed as she spotted the tearaway at the end of the corridor, armed with a permanent marker. "Get to my office now!"

Just as Shauna was about to warn the students who had followed her into the building, it was too late. Jasmine had already caught sight of the defacing of her brother's memorial.

"Jasmine, I am so sorry about this. Don't worry, Sean is gonna pay for this and he will be getting punished for it," Shauna apologised.

"It's okay."

As Shauna rushed down the corridor, chasing Sean to her office, Jasmine looked at the graffiti with a blank look across her face.

"He doesn't mean it, Jas. He's just grieving," Muhammad paused.

"There's somethings that you don't know about my brother," Jasmine sighed. "Don't presume you know what my brother was like because you don't. I loved him and he was amazing to me but there's things people never knew about him and what he could be like."

* * *

Inside her office, Shauna looked at the troubled teen as he slumped in the chair opposite her desk in disbelief. Never had she met somebody who could be so heartless.

"What the hell are you playing at, Sean?" Shauna shouted. "I get that you didn't like Benjamin but you need to think about the consequences of your actions to poor Jasmine. She's dealing with the loss of her brother - her only brother. You can't be doing things like that."

"So?" Sean bluntly replied.

"I have no choice but to suspend you for a week until I can think of how we're gonna deal with you," Shauna paused. "I don't even know if I can have a student like you in this school. It's too much of a risk to the other students. You're trouble."

"Whatever," Sean slurred as he got up from the chair and barged past Shauna, disappearing out of her office.

* * *

Knocking on the art room's door, Amber looked down both ends of the corridor, making sure nobody was watching her as she waited for somebody to answer the classroom door. As the door opened, Amber was greeted by Taj, who was dressed smartly in a pristine suit and tie - the complete opposite to his usual shirt and jeans combo that he wore for work.

"Well, this is a pleasant surprise," she grinned, admiring his attire as she walked into his classroom that was decorated with the year eight's masks and the year ten's pop art attempts.

* * *

Spritzing aftershave all over himself, Alfie checked his reflection in the mirror before straightening out his collar. Eventually satisfied with the way he looked, he grabbed his phone from the docking station that was stood on his bedside table and left his room, shutting the door behind him. As he made his way down the stairs, he could hear his mother and her one of many boyfriend's in the lounge. The thought of seeing them together almost brought sick to his mouth so he rushed across the hallway and out the door.

"Alfie?" his mother called as she walked to the doorway, peeping around the doorframe just in time for the front door to close behind him.

As he made his way down the street, in the direction of the high street, he felt as if someone was following him. Glancing over his shoulder a few times, Alfie couldn't spot anything or anyone. Putting it down to paranoia, he picked up his phone from his pocket and began to dial a number.

"Hey, yeah, it's me."

"Nope, I've just set off now but I'll be there in about ten minutes," Alfie replied, pausing for a few moments. "Yeah. See you in a bit. Bye."

Just as he was about to shove his phone back into his pocket, a hand grabbed hold of his arm and shoved him against the side wall of a row of shops just a few doors from his own house. The area was known to be rough but Alfie had never had any issues before.

"Stay away from her."

"Danny?" Alfie asked in confusion as a beam of light from a nearby streetlight struck the stranger's face.

"Yeah. Do you understand me though?" Danny snarled as he pinned Alfie up against the wall. "I really like her and I don't need people like you messing it up for me. Leave Dylan alone."

"We're just friends," Alfie argued, pushing his classmate from him.

"I'm serious," Danny retaliated. "Leave her alone."

"Or what?" Alfie laughed. "You'll beat me up?"

"Just leave her alone and you won't have anything to worry about."

* * *

Passing his date a strawberry, Taj continued listening to Amber's story of her childhood.

"I wasn't really an outgoing girl but I got my work done and got the grades," Amber smiled. "I guess I was just determined to get a better life for myself and family."

"Better life?" Taj questioned.

"We lived in Pakistan and my dad's brother sort of bullied him into working for him so we didn't have much freedom. Everything we wanted to do had to be approved by him. Everything we wanted to buy had to be approved by him and then checked by him once we had bought it. If he didn't approve of it, we had to get rid of it or give it to him," Amber explained. "He was a professional manipulator."

"What happened when you moved to England?" Taj asked.

"He died in the end," Amber smiled, putting the strawberry to her mouth. "Heart attack apparently."

"I hate to say it but it sounds like he deserved it."

Chomping on the strawberry, Amber nodded. "Definitely. He was a retched old man."

* * *

Inside the pub, Emma attempted to convince the barman that she had left her ID at home but she was definitely eighteen years old - even though she was seventeen. After five minutes of pleading with him, she finally gave up and retreated back to the table that she was sharing with all her friends.

"Dylan, please go get me a drink," Emma begged as she grabbed hold of her best friend's hand and gave her 'puppy eyes'. "I'll give you the money."

"Get me one too," Penny asked, handing a crisp ten pound note over to Dylan.

"I'll get them," Susie laughed, noticing how much Dylan didn't want to go to the bar. "What do you all want?"

"Anything with vodka," Emma replied.

"Do they do cocktails?" Penny asked, lifting herself up slightly to look over at the drinks menu that was hung at the side of the bar.

"It's a pub," Dylan laughed. "I hardly think they will."

"Dylan, do you want anything?" Susie questioned.

"Um, yeah, okay. Thanks."

"Just get different drinks and we can all share them," Penny smiled to Susie.

As soon as Susie went over to the bar, Alfie walked into the pub, looking a little windswept. Seeing Alfie walk over to them, Dylan stood up and shuffled her way past her friends to give Alfie a hug. Reluctantly, Alfie hugged Dylan back.

"Come on," Dylan smiled, taking Alfie's hand and dragged him against his will past her friends. "Sit with us."

Sitting beside Dylan, Alfie couldn't help but replay Danny's words in his head. He wasn't scared of anybody, especially Danny Walsbrook, but he didn't want things to get stupidly out of hand, especially since he wanted to get into university this year and any bad record with fights or feuds could compromise his place at the University of Edinburgh.

"I like your hair like that," Dylan said as she admired Alfie's brown hair that he'd gelled up into a quiff. "It makes you look so much older."

"I guess being not in the school uniform helps too," Alfie joked.

"Alfie, how old are you?" Emma asked.

"Eighteen, why?"

"Great," Emma grinned. "You can buy our drinks for us next."

"Um, okay?" Alfie laughed.

"I hope to God that Sean has the common sense to stay away tonight," Penny groaned. "I still can't believe what he did at Benjamin's memorial. I know they didn't get out, but I didn't realise Sean would stoop that low just to get one up on him. He's dead. I don't get why he can't just move on."

"I know it sounds stupid but maybe it's his way of dealing with the grief," Emma paused.

"What?" Penny questioned, looking at Emma with a expression of disgust.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning his behaviour, but maybe he is grieving and the only way he can deal with it is pretending that he doesn't care that Benjamin's actually gone?" Emma suggested. "They were best friends for so long before they came to Waterloo Road apparently."

Penny shrugged her shoulders as she took a sip from the drink that Susie handed her. "He needs to stop being so heartless though. Maybe then people will like him."

Just as the group of friends went to silence, drinking from the various drinks that Susie had brought back to the table with her, the door to the pub opened and in walked Danny.

"Here comes lover boy," Emma teased, gently nudging Dylan with her elbow.

"Shut up," Dylan blushed. "It's been a week. We're hardly in love."

"Hardly in what?" Danny asked, smiling to Dylan as he approached the table.

"Squeeze up, guys," Penny said, squishing towards Susie as she made room for Danny to sit down.

"I wanna sit with my girl," Danny paused.

Reshuffling around the table, Penny squeezed up beside Susie as Emma budged up against Alfie. In the end, Dylan ended up standing up to let Danny sit where she was before clambering onto his lap.

"Don't you dare make me spill my drink," Dylan warned as she cautiously lifted her drink up from the table and slowly moved it towards her lips.

As she took a drink, Danny grinned and began to bounce his knees up and down, causing Dylan's drink to splash over the sides of the glass and fall onto her top.

"Danny," she groaned.

* * *

Walking out to their cars that were still parked in the school grounds, Amber and Taj continued to get to know one another. Amber had learnt all about Taj's family and how Taj took on the role of Muhammad's guardian once their mum had fallen sick a few years ago but only just recently recovered. Likewise with Taj learning about Amber's upbringing in Pakistan. They both came from completely different backgrounds but they got on amazingly well. It wasn't until they both reached their cars that they learned how well they did get on.

"I'll see you tomorrow then," Amber smiled as she unlocked her car and dumped her bags and folders into the car.

Taj nodded.

As he watched Amber as she was about to climb into her car, Taj took a deep breath and took hold of her arm. "I can't let you go without this." Placing his lips onto Amber's, they both embraced one another as they kissed in the moonlit school car park.

"Night, Taj," Amber grinned as she eventually climbed into her car.

"Night," Taj beamed, watching her as she got into her car and drove off out of the school grounds, looking pretty content with himself.

* * *

"We'd better be off," Danny sighed as he pretended to yawn.

"Yeah," Dylan smiled, downing the rest of her drink before accidentally slamming the glass down on the table.

As Dylan and Danny got ready to head back to Danny's for the night, Alfie watched from his seat without saying a word. Once Dylan had put her jacket back on, she found her shoulder being draped with Danny's arm once again. Smiling up to him, she said night to all her friends and then the couple made their way over to the door before disappearing into the night.

"I guess I'd better be getting home too," Emma smiled, putting her coat on. "Alfie, do you fancy walking me home?"

"Ur.. sure," Alfie reluctantly agreed - his mind still with Dylan.

"Are you two alright here by yourselves?" Emma asked, looking at Susie and Penny who had hardly spoken all night. "We can stay if you want a bit of company."

"It's fine," Penny smiled. "You two get home. We'll see you at school tomorrow anymore."

"Oh, the joys," Emma laughed. "Right, come on then, Alfie."

The second Alfie and Emma also disappeared into the night, Susie shuffled across the seat they were all squashed up on just a few moments previously and sighed.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Penny asked as she looked at a nervous Susie who was now sat opposite her.

"Nothing," Susie shrugged. "I should probably get home too. I didn't tell my mum where I was going so she'll probably be getting worried about me now."

"You're eighteen," Penny laughed. "You can do whatever you want.. You can do whoever you want, Susie. You don't have to pretend with me. I know your secret."

"What secret?"

"You know.. the fact you're gay."

Susie looked at Penny in confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said as she picked up her coat from the back of the seat and draped it over her arm, standing up as quickly as she possibly could.

"You know exactly what I'm on about, Susie. I've known for ages. You can't deny it."

"I can deny it because it's not true," Susie snarled. "Night."

Sitting at the pub table by herself, Penny looked across the pub as Susie made her way to the door. Just as Susie was about to make her exit, she looked back to Penny. Their eyes connected from each side of the room. Penny knew she was right. And Susie knew Penny was right. She just didn't want her to be right anymore.

* * *

Leading Dylan up to his bedroom, Danny continued to glance back at her, giving her little smiles as she looked around at his house in astonishment. She never imagined his house to be anything like this. She expected something similar to her own house - a relatively decent sized three-bedroomed semi-detached house. Instead, Danny's house was something like she saw in the movies - the really rich houses she saw in the movies. The house was massive and decorated in the most beautiful decor she had ever seen before.

"What is it your parents do?" Dylan asked as she followed Danny into his room.

"My mum's a lawyer and my dad's the headteacher at Havelock," Danny confessed.

"Whoa."

Danny nodded his head as he grabbed a box of matches from his bedside table and lit a candle that was stood beside his bed. Once the flame was flickering, creating a cosy glow in his bedroom, Danny looked over his shoulder at Dylan. Nervously looking around the room, Dylan put her bag down on a chair that was in the corner of the room.

"Are you okay?" Danny questioned, looking at her with concern.

"Yeah. I just.. I just wanna get this over and done with."

Danny looked at her in confusion. "No. I didn't mean that. I just like falling asleep with a candle on," Danny smiled.

"I want to do it."

Danny studied her for a moment. "I don't want you to if you're not ready. I'll wait for you."

Dylan shook her head as she took hold of Danny's hand as he remained seated on his bed. "I'm ready."


	4. Episode Four

Getting out of his car, Jeremy Sutcliffe looked up at the school and smiled contently to himself. With his briefcase in his hand, he slammed the door to his car shut before locking it up and making his way up to the school's entrance. Every step he took oozed with confidence as he set himself up for his first day at Waterloo Road.

Arms wrapped around one another, Dylan and Danny laughed at the other one as they followed the rest of the students into the school building. "Stop over mine tonight?" Danny asked as he fiddled with Dylan's curls.

"What? Again?" Dylan questioned. "I don't know. There's only so many nights my mum is going to believe that I'm stopping at Emma's to do coursework. And she's got this big dinner sorted with some her friends tonight. I was gonna help out."

"So when's it gonna happen?"

"When's what gonna happen?"

"When am I gonna meet your parents - your mum?" Danny asked.

Dylan looked up at Danny before looking straight in front of her, trying to avoid the subject at any cost as the couple made their way into the school building. "I.. I don't know yet. It's awkward. She's not really keen on me having, you know, boyfriends until exams are over and I've graduated."

"Graduated? That's four years away," Danny laughed. "She doesn't expect you to have boyfriends until you're twenty-two?"

Dylan shrugged her shoulders. "She's old fashioned. Look, I'll sort it."

"Alright," Danny smiled, kissing her forehead.

Unlinking her arm from Danny's waist, Dylan smiled back to him. "I've got drama now but I'll see you at lunch?"

Danny nodded before watching Dylan as she walked to her next lesson.

"Do you know where the headteacher's office is?" Jeremy asked Danny.

Shrugging his shoulders, Danny ignored the question as he turned around and made his own way to his next lesson.

"Thank-you for your help," Jeremy sarcastically responded as he looked around at the students who were swarming past him like cattle. "It's very much appreciated."

* * *

Leaning against the metal fence that ran the perimeter of the school grounds, Sean White looked up at the school from the gates before checking his phone in a hurry. Just as he was about to give up on waiting, two girls came rushing down the path, looking hasty as they both continued to glance backwards in the school's direction, making sure nobody saw them.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Sean snarled. "I said nine. It's nearly ten past."

"Don't you have to be in school too?" the first girl asked.

"School? Me? No. I gave that up last week," Sean replied proudly. "School isn't going to get me where I wanna be in life."

"Where's the stuff?" the other girl asked as she continued to look behind her, getting more and more panicked over being caught.

"In my pocket. I need to see the cash first," Sean paused. "Come on. Come on. I haven't got all day."

"It's here," the first girl said as she handed a bunch of notes to Sean.

"Deal's a deal," Sean replied, discreetly handing over a little transparent bag with white powder in the bottom of it. "Tell anybody about our little deal and you'll regret being born."

"Thanks."

Scurrying back onto the school grounds, the girls tittered amongst themselves as Sean disappeared down the street.

"Chelsea Patterson and Victoria Campbell. What are you doing out here? Lessons started ten minutes ago. Stop skiving and get to your lessons now or I'll send you to the Cooler," Linda Thomas warned as the girls re-entered the school building. "And don't think I won't be checking up on you."

"Yes, miss," the girls smiled in unison, heading straight to their first lesson of the day.

"When are we gonna take it then?" Chelsea whispered as the girls walked down the corridor, trying their very best to avoid anymore confrontation from any members of staff. "You heard Mrs Thomas. She'll check up on us in lessons. And we can't make it obvious. Sean'll kill us if we get caught. Not to mention my parents will probably ground me for life."

"I don't know. Break I guess."

"Vicky, you still wanna do this. Don't you?"

Vicky looked at her friend and nodded - but her nod didn't convince Chelsea in the slightest.

"We don't have to if you don't want to," Chelsea smiled. "It's.."

"What? And get called a failure by Sean?" Vicky asked. "No. We'll do it."

* * *

Walking out of her office, Shauna said 'good morning' to Daryl, who was sat behind his desk organising piles upon piles of paperwork for the various other teachers of the school.

"Jeremy, this is Daryl Stuarts - the school secretary," Shauna smiled, introducing a very enthusiastic Jeremy, who was stood behind the head teacher as he prepared for the tour of the school. "Daryl, this is Jeremy Sutcliffe. He's joining.."

"He's our new geography teacher," Daryl interrupted. "I know. I read the files."

Looking shocked at Daryl's competence with doing his job, Shauna flashed a smile at him. "If there was an award for the best secretary ever, this guy would win it hands down."

"Oh, before I forget, Azar Jefferson's mum will be coming in to see you at ten about his GCSE options and.. Kevin Thomas has emailed across the confirmation form that you need to sign to allow this trip to Normandy go ahead," Daryl said as he began to reel off a list of memos he had jotted down for Shauna.

"Thank-you," Shauna nodded, taking all the things in. "Right, Jeremy, the tour."

* * *

Vicky and Chelsea crept into the back of the art classroom as Taj Mahila had his back to the class, sketching a portrait of himself onto the chalkboard - something Taj refused to get rid of no matter how many times the senior staff of the school offered to replace it with a whiteboard. Quietly, the girls tiptoed to their seats, praying that none of the other students in their class would grass them up. As soon as they sat down on the stools that had been empty for the past twenty minutes, a look of relief appeared on both their faces.

"So identity is a huge important part towards art. Not only is it important with our own self-identity but it's important with cultures and societies. An example of this is the Aztec pattern, which is associated with the Aztec tribes who settled in Mexico before the Spanish invaded during the 16th century," Taj explained as he addressed his students.

"Sir, is that a bit like the pop art phase during the 60s?"

"Exactly," Taj nodded. "We associate the pop art artwork with the 1960s and figures such as Andy Warhol. We identify them through art."

It was at that moment that Taj noticed the girls' seats had only recently been filled.

"So Chelsea Patterson and Vicky Campbell, is there any reason you turned up to my lesson twenty minutes late and didn't even have the decency to apologise for your absence?" Taj questioned as he leaned on the desk in front of him.

"Sorry, sir," Vicky apologised.

"Yeah, sorry, sir. We didn't want to interrupt the class," Chelsea added, giving any excuse that she could think of that Mr. Mahila would buy.

"If you didn't want to interrupt the class, you would have turned up on time," Taj paused as he was met by a chorus of 'ooh's from his students. "Don't be late again. Okay?"

"Okay."

* * *

As she continued showing Jeremy around the school, Shauna attempted to engage in small talk with her latest employee but it was no use - Jeremy was too focused on taking down notes on where everything was in the school.

"You don't have to take notes," Shauna smiled, laughing a half-hearted laugh as she caught sight of Jeremy's notes on where to find toilets and how to get from the headteacher's office to the canteen and everything in-between. "We have a map in the office if you want a copy."

"It's okay," Jeremy replied, continuing to make notes as the tour carried on.

"Well, this is the Cooler," Shauna said, arriving at the school's most used room out of all the rooms in the building.

"The Cooler?" Jeremy asked, looking as puzzled as he sounded.

"If you ever have anybody misbehaving in your class, don't hesitate to send them here. A member of staff is always in there to supervise. The last thing we need in classes at any time is interruptions from misbehaving kids," Shauna explained. "Sending them here allows the student to reflect on their behaviour without having fellow classmates around to show off to and it gives the teacher the chance to concentrate on the rest of the students without any distractions or disturbances."

"Excellent idea," Jeremy smiled as he took down a few more notes.

"And if you follow me now, I'll show you to your classroom," Shauna paused before leading Jeremy back down the stairs and along yet another corridor.

As they reached an empty classroom, Shauna retrieved a set of keys from her pocket and began to unlock the door. Once the door was open, she allowed the newest teacher to the team to enter his classroom.

"It's bare right now but it gives you the chance to put your own touch on the room," Shauna explained as Jeremy looked around the room with a pokerface.

The room wasn't much to look at. In fact, it was pretty appalling. The walls had been painted with a murky beige paint what looked about ten years ago; the tables - most of which had been overturned and never turned the right way around again - were covered in a thick blanket of dust and grime; the carpet was covered in various spillages from ink to what Jeremy could only presume was yoghurt. You could tell the classroom hadn't been used as a geography classroom for a while as the tattered map of the world that hung on the board still had Russia labelled as 'U.S.S.R'. Jeremy dreaded to even open the door in the corner of the room which led to a storage room.

"I'm sure it'll be okay once the cleaners have done their job," Jeremy smiled, trying to stay optimistic about the whole thing.

"There's a slight problem with that one," Shauna paused. "The cleaners don't start until 1pm and you have your first lesson after break at 10.30am."

Jeremy sighed as he looked around the classroom. "I guess I'd better get cracking."

"I would help but I have to get back to this meeting with a year nine student's parent," Shauna explained in an apologetic tone.

"Don't worry," Jeremy lied. "I'll be fine."

As soon as Shauna left the room after wishing Jeremy luck, he looked around the room and sighed with regret. What the hell had he got himself in to?

* * *

Within milliseconds of the bell sounding through the school halls, swarms of kids came flying out of all the classrooms and barged their way down the corridors towards the school grounds and canteen. Amongst the students were Vicky and Chelsea as they both looked around like lost sheep.

"Where shall we do it?" Chelsea asked, hushing her voice so only Vicky could hear her.

"I don't know," Vicky snapped. "Why are all the decisions being left for me to make? You have a mind of your own. Why can't you make a few decisions once in a while? I hate being the one deciding everything. You're not a baby."

In confusion, Chelsea looked at Vicky before grabbing hold of her arm and dragging her across the corridor and into the staff toilets.

"Chelsea, we can't be in here," Vicky paused. "We'll easily get caught."

"We'd better hurry up then," Chelsea smiled as she put her school bag on the ledge above the sink basins before turning to Vicky. "Where is the stuff?"

Retrieving the bag of cocaine from her bag, Vicky glanced over at her overly excited friend. Filled with uncertainty, Vicky passed the bag to Chelsea. "You go first," she insisted.

"Okay," Chelsea smiled, taking the bag from Vicky.

* * *

The overturned tables were now organised neatly in rows. The dusty desk that stood at the front of the classroom was now shining with Jeremy's laptop proudly sitting in the centre of it with his portable projector beside it. The whiteboard at the front of the classroom which used to be decorated with graffiti was now sparkling white - or as which as can be considering it's age. The old geography map that was hanging onto the wall with one rusty pin had been thrown into the outside bin. The blinds which lined the window to the outside world had been opened for the first time in years. The classroom still had far to go but it was nevertheless habitable for the moment.

"Well, well, well, never thought I'd see this room in a relatively good condition again," a voice said unexpectedly, startling Jeremy slightly as he realigned the chairs with the desks.

"Can't expect A* grades in a classroom that is screaming out for some TLC," Jeremy replied with a smile to the unknown woman in his doorway.

"You must be Jeremy, the new geography teacher?"

Jeremy nodded.

"I'm Layla - Layla Walker. I'm the school's health coordinator."

"Lovely to meet you," Jeremy said as he went over to shake Layla's hand.

"My office is just next door so if you ever need any help, don't hesitate to come and knock on my door," Layla insisted. "I know how hard this teaching malarky can get sometimes."

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Jeremy replied. "I intend to enter teaching with an open mind."

"I take it you haven't been a teacher before?" Layla asked, sounding slightly surprised.

Jeremy shook his head. "Not at this level. I used to be a teaching assistant at a boarding school in Cumbria but I decided to up my game and become a full qualified teacher."

"So you chose Waterloo Road?" Layla questioned. "Brave. Very brave."

Jeremy looked at Layla in confusion. He had heard stories from various people about Waterloo Road and it's notorious reputation but he didn't think it could be that bad. From what he had seen so far, he saw the potential in both the school and it's students.

"I'm always up for a challenge," Jeremy smiled.

"Well, good luck, Jeremy. I'm almost always in my class next door so if things get a bit too much or you need somebody to assist with a lesson, just pop in and I'll be happy to help."

"Thank-you," Jeremy said before Layla left him in the classroom by himself.

* * *

"What's it like?" Vicky asked as Chelsea held out the bag of white powder for her to take. "Does it feel good?"

"Doesn't feel any differently really. Try it yourself."

Reluctantly, Vicky took the bag from Chelsea's grasp and slowly emptied out a fraction of the contents onto the edge of the basin. After straightening it out into a neat line with the edge of her student ID card, Vicky held her long brown hair back with one hand as she slowly brought her face closer to the power. Just as Vicky was about to inhale it, Chelsea grabbed hold of her stomach.

"What's up?" Vicky questioned, standing up fully as she watched her friend clutch onto her waist in agony.

"I don't.. feel so good," Chelsea stuttered. "I feel like I'm.."

"Do you want me to go get help?" Vicky panicked.

Before Chelsea had chance to reply, she ran into the cubicle in the corner of the room and locked the door. Vicky paced back and forth a few times, fighting with thoughts over what to do as she listened to the sound of Chelsea vomiting inside the cubicle of the staff toilets. She couldn't get help because then she would have to tell them about the drugs and then they would want to know where they got the drugs from, meaning she would have to drop Sean in it. She heard his threat. If anybody knew Sean was supplying year ten girls with drugs, he'd kill them. Everyone at Waterloo Road knew what Sean White was capable of - even the teachers. The only thing that Vicky could think about was Benjamin Taylor and the rumours that were still circulating the school over Sean killing him. She didn't want to risk it. But at the same time, she couldn't leave her best friend in this state.

"Chels, I'm going to go get help," Vicky called out as she grabbed her school bag from the sink basin beside the unused cocaine. "Stay here. Okay? I'll be back as soon as possible. I promise."

Vicky didn't get a reply.

"Chels.."

She still didn't get a reply. Even the sound of Chelsea vomiting from inside the cubicle had turned into silence.

"Chelsea.."

As panic took over every action and every thought, Vicky ran out of the toilets and down the corridor. Turning down another corridor, she noticed the door to Mrs. Thomas' classroom was open with her sat alone at her desk, catching up on marking. Instead of running in to get help, Vicky continued running. She didn't stop at any classroom or any office. By the time the bell for the end of break sounded through the corridors, Vicky had already made her way out of the school's doors and was running as fast as she could towards the school gates.

"Vicky, are you alright?" Jasmine Taylor asked, getting in Vicky's way just as she turned the corner at the end of the school road.

"Jas.. Yeah, fine. I just think I left my hair straighteners on this morning," Vicky panicked, throwing out any lie she could think of in the hope that Jasmine would buy it.

"I can tell Mr. Brooks where you are if you want," Jasmine suggested.

"What?" Vicky asked in confusion as she edged her way around Jasmine, trying to get away as fast as possible without raising any suspicion with her classmate.

"Drama?" Jasmine paused, looking at Vicky with a raised eyebrow. "It's our next lesson."

"Oh, um.. no, it's okay," Vicky said. "Just don't say anything. In fact, pretend you haven't seen me."

Before Jasmine had chance to agree with Vicky's request, Vicky had already legged it across the road and down a side alley - heading towards the water front.

* * *

Standing by his classroom door, Jeremy took a deep breath as he noticed some of his sixth year students at the end of the corridor, walking in the direction of his classroom. Greeting them as they arrived in dribs and drabs, Jeremy instructed them to find a seat and get out their equipment.

"Ah, it's you," Jeremy paused as he was about to greet Danny Walsbrook.

"And you are?" Danny asked.

"Your new geography teacher is who I am," Jeremy replied in a stern tone. "Who may you be?"

"Danny."

"Danny what?"

"Danny Walsbrook."

"Right, Danny, down the front where I can keep an eye on you," Jeremy ordered, gesturing to the table right at the front beside his own desk. "I sense we'll be getting to know each other pretty well this term."

* * *

Finishing off a file report for one of the year seven students, Layla went to pick up her coffee cup only to realise it was empty. Groaning, she put down her pen, scraped her chair across the floor and stood up with the coffee cup firmly in her hand. As she wandered down the corridor, she glanced through the window in Jeremy's classroom door to see him at the front of his room talking to his class. She let out a smile to herself. She gave him the benefit of the doubt this morning in their first encounter with him being a newly qualified teacher, however, from the glance she had just seen, he seemed to be keeping his class under control extremely well. Little did she know that he was actually trying his calm method of getting the class to silence as they erupted into a roar of laughter and misbehaving upon realising he was a new teacher.

Continuing her journey down the corridor towards the staff room, Layla glanced into each classroom, keeping an eye out on her colleagues as they taught their own individual classes. It was only as she reached the end of the corridor did something catch Layla's eye - the staff toilet's door that had been disused for the best part of a year had been left ajar.

Placing her coffee cup on the window ledge in the corridor, Layla crept over to the open door and slid into the toilets. Noticing that the cubicle door was shut, she stood in front of it and waited.

"Right, you know you're not supposed to be in there," she said aloud after a few moments of complete silence. "I know you're in there. Unlock the door and come out now."

As she was met by silence, Layla began to get agitated.

"You can't stay in there forever," she paused. "Out now or you'll be finding yourself in the cooler."

Slowly, the door to the cubicle was unlocked. Wearily, Chelsea pulled the door back and emerged from the cubicle. Layla couldn't help but gasp as she saw Chelsea's pale complexion and gormless expression. Before Layla had chance to ask whether Chelsea was alright or why she was in the staff toilets, Chelsea collapsed - her legs giving up beneath her. Laying flat out cold on the floor, Chelsea's body spasmed as Layla fell down to her side and held onto her.

"It's okay. It's okay," Layla panicked as she clutched onto Chelsea's now lifeless body.

As Layla felt for a pulse, she caught sight of Kevin Thomas walking down the corridor.

"Kevin!" she shouted. "Kevin! Come quick!"

Rushing to Layla's assistance, Kevin looked down at Chelsea with the same look of worry across his face that Layla had across her own.

"What's happened?"

"I don't know. She just collapsed and had some sort of seizure," Layla explained. "We need to get her to hospital."

"Has she got a pulse?" Kevin asked.

Layla nodded. "It's only weak though. And she's sweating but her body feels stone cold."

"I'll call for an ambulance. You stay here with her," Kevin instructed before darting back into the corridor and running to his nearby office to call for the emergency services.

* * *

"I don't want to be perceived as the strict teacher but if you continue to act like this, I will have no choice but to send you to the Cooler," Jeremy said - his voice being camouflaged by the sound of his students' raised voices as they continued to have conversations and shouting matches across the classroom to one another. "Please."

"Sorry, sir, but with a class, you have to shout," Danny laughed, getting enjoyment out of watching the new teacher squirm.

"I shouldn't have to shout," Jeremy replied, surprised that Danny was the only student listening to him.

"Well, they're not going to listen then," Danny smirked as he rested back in his chair and put his feet up on the desk.

Jeremy looked at the students and then looked at his watch. Three minutes into the lesson and he had already lost control of the class. Taking another deep breath, he put his focus back on the students and did something he vowed he would never do - shout.

"If I don't get silence within the next two seconds, you will all be sent to the Cooler and have detention for the next month!"

Looking at him, the students slowly sat in their seats and turned their attention to their teacher for the first time in that lesson.

"That's much better. Thank-you."

"Told you, sir," Danny smugly smiled.

Ignoring Danny's comment, Jeremy wrote the words 'Mr. Sutcliffe' on the right hand side of the board.

"As you can see, my name is Mr. Sutcliffe and I'll be your geography teacher for the next year," Jeremy began, reciting the introductory speech he had being memorising for the past week since being offered the job. "I'm going to start by telling you a few things about me and then we'll go around the room and you'll have your own opportunity to tell us all a few things about yourself so we can all get to know one another a bit better."

"What? Like in pre-school, sir?" Matthew Anderson shouted out, causing the class to laugh.

"Yes. Just like pre-school," Jeremy paused as he leant against his desk, facing his students. "Because I guess if you're all going to behave like pre-school children, I'll have to start treating you like pre-school children."

With silence still in the class, Jeremy contently smiled to himself as he folded his arms and placed them across his chest in an authoritative manner. "So, two facts about me. I enjoy playing on the Playstation in my free time and I own a dog named Maggie."

"Does your dog play Playstation with you, sir?" one student called out.

"I bet he only plays 'Little Big Planet'," another student joked.

"No, probably plays 'SingStar' with the dog," another laughed. "Bet they do duets."

"'Who let the dogs out'?"

"'Dog Days Are Over'?"

"No, any song by Snoop Dogg I bet."

"What about Gnarls Barkley?" one student grinned, emphasising on the 'Bark'.

Two girls who were sat in the middle of the classroom stood up began to sing a pitchy rendition of 'Puppy Love'.

"I hope and I pray," they harmonised.

"I pray," two other girls at the back of the classroom joined in as backing singers as the whole class rocked side to side, laughing as they watched the anger in Jeremy's face boil to the surface.

"That maybe some day, you'll be back.."

"Right, that's enough jokes for today," Jeremy snapped as he slammed his hands flat on the table in front of him.

* * *

As two paramedics followed Kevin into the staff toilets, Layla stood up from Chelsea's side and let them check her over.

"Do you know what could have caused this?" one of the paramedics asked as they checked Chelsea's pulse.

"No. Not that I can think of," Layla panicked. "She doesn't have any health issues that the school is aware of. She looked awful when she collapsed. She was having seizures and was foaming at the mouth."

"Do you know if she's taken anything? Any medication?" the paramedic asked.

"No. Not that I know of," Layla paused. "I just found her before she collapsed. She collapsed before she had chance to say anything to me."

"Layla.."

Layla looked over to Kevin, who's attention was drawn to the line of cocaine that was on the side of the basin.

"Oh, you silly girl. You silly, silly girl," Layla sighed as she watched the paramedics as they lifted Chelsea's motionless body onto the stretcher.

* * *

Head in her hands as she sat in silence on her sofa, Vicky's mind was going into overload, thinking of everything that could have been going on with Chelsea back at school. Would somebody find her? Was she okay? What happened? Why was she being sick? What would happen to her? What would happen to Vicky? Would people find out she abandoned her friend in need? What was going on?

She doubted Chelsea would ever forgive her for leaving her when she promised to go get help, but she couldn't risk people finding out that Sean had supplied drugs to them. Sean was the infamous bad boy at Waterloo Road. Everyone knew what the sixth year was capable of, even his twin sister, Kimmy - she knew better of them all.

No matter which way she tried to look at it though, the guilt that was racking up inside Vicky was driving her insane.

* * *

As his class continued to run riot under his watch, Jeremy was at the end of his patience. He scanned across the room at all his students before turning back to face the board. After taking a deep breath, he turned back to face the class.

"Would you all shut up?" Jeremy shouted at the top of his voice.

Startled, the students turned to look at their teacher's outburst and quietened down.

"Thank-you," Jeremy paused as he took a discreet sigh of relief. "Right, let's skip the 'get to know one another' part of the lesson and go straight to the lesson part of the lesson, shall we?"

Met by silence, Jeremy smiled to himself, satisfied that he now had control over his class. Leaning over towards his desk, Jeremy pressed for the next slide of his PowerPoint presentation. As soon as he stood back up to present the lesson to the class, he noticed the screen had gone all black.

"Um, one second. It seems like we're having some sort of technical error."

The class began talking amongst themselves as Jeremy sat down at his desk and began his feeble attempt at sorting out the laptop - something Jeremy knew nothing about.

"Sir, I can help you sort it out if you want?" Danny offered as he stood up from his desk.

"Sit down," Jeremy ordered.

"But I'm good with computers," Danny insisted.

Jeremy looked up at his student before glancing back to the computer he had no idea about. Reluctantly, he moved out of his chair and allowed Danny to sort his laptop out as he continued to talk to the class.

"Who can tell me the difference between 'weather' and 'climate'?" Jeremy asked.

A pin could have dropped in the classroom and still be heard as his students avoided to be the one to answer his question.

"Oh, come on, guys!" Jeremy smiled, erupting with enthusiasm. "Anyone?"

Luke put his hand up.

"Yes.."

"Luke."

"Yes, Luke, please enlighten your fellow classmates into a basic of geography," Jeremy paused.

"Weather relates to the daily atmospheric conditions, whereas climate is based on the average weather conditions over the past years to give a general picture."

Jeremy nodded. "Perfect. Weather is short-term whilst climate is long-term."

Just as Jeremy was about to continue the rest of his lesson to the students, orgasmic moans sounded from the speakers on his portable projector. Jeremy turned around in horror to see a pornographic video being projected onto a six foot screen at the front of the classroom.

"Turn that off now, Danny!" Jeremy ordered, rushing to the front of the classroom and fighting Danny to close the lid of the laptop. "You will go to the Cooler for the rest of the year if you don't turn that filth off now!"

Danny laughed as he found it amusing to watch his teacher freak out.

"Calm down, sir," Danny grinned. "It's only a bit of girl-on-girl."

Eventually, Jeremy managed to close the laptop, sending Danny straight to the Cooler.

Strolling down the corridor in the direction of the Cooler, Danny grinned to himself. He didn't intend on annoying the teacher in his first geography lesson - it was just hard to resist as soon as he had learnt that it was his teacher's first day teaching ever.

* * *

With continuous beeps sounding from all over the room in which Chelsea Patterson's lifeless body was in, Layla looked a little uneasy as she looked around the hospital ward. Chelsea's body was wired up to various machines that were surrounding her bedside. Layla couldn't bear with sight of Chelsea with a tube shoved down her throat and a drip attached to her veins with a needle. Doctors kept entering the room, checking on the machines and then leaving again without saying a word. Nurses would hover around her bedside for a few moments as she they checked on Chelsea before disappearing down the ward to assist with other patients. The hustle and bustle of the hospital was drowned out by the beeps of the machine.

"How is she?" Shauna asked Layla as she entered the ward with a doctor.

"She's still alive," Layla sighed. "Only just though. Poor thing."

"Do they know how it happened yet?" Shauna questioned, looking down at Chelsea with a sympathetic expression.

"Drugs."

Shauna sighed as she looked back to the health teacher.

"It doesn't mean that there is a drugs problem at the school," Layla paused. "It just means.."

"If there's a drug problem with one student, there's got to be a drug problem with more students," Shauna interrupted. "She can't be on her own, Layla. And there's no way she found the drugs without help."

* * *

As Dale made his hourly inspections of the Waterloo Road corridors in search of any signs of trouble for which he could be the hero to, he prowled his eyes into every classroom that he passed. Just as he made his way up the stairs and back towards his office, satisfied that the school was running as smoothly as possible, something in the Cooler caught his attention - Danny Walsbrook.

"Danny, what are you doing in here?" Dale asked, poking his head around the side of the Cooler door to question the sixth year student.

"That new geography teacher sent me in here."

Without needing another word, Dale groaned and turned around to walk back down the stairs.

Reaching the geography classroom, Dale knocked firmly on the door before opening up the door. "Mr. Sutcliffe," Dale paused. "May I have a word with you?"

"Certainly," Jeremy nodded before addressing his students. "Make sure you all finish reading page 128 before I get back. If you finish that, attempt the questions on page 132 and we'll discuss them once you've all finished reading."

Slipping outside the classroom, Jeremy looked at Dale with a smile as he closed his classroom door behind him, causing his students to return to their original unruly state.

"What can I help you with?"

"Did you send Danny Walsbrook to the Cooler?"

Jeremy nodded. "He was being disruptive and inappropriate in a lesson so I sent him to the Cooler. That is what the Cooler is for, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. But it doesn't really show a good teacher when you can't control your first class and end up sending a sixth year student to the Cooler within half an hour."

Jeremy stood back from Dale. "I'm sorry, but I am not having students interrupting my lesson. If the Cooler is there, I'm going to send them to the Cooler, regardless of whether I've been working here five minutes or five years."

Dale took a step closer to Jeremy, getting right in his face. "And I'm sorry, but I am not having new members of staff speak to me like that."

Jeremy stayed silent as Dale took a step back.

"So I suggest, Mr. Sutcliffe, that you get back into your class and do what you're supposedly able to do - teach."

Jeremy followed Dale's instructions, looking a little flustered as he re-entered his classroom to be met by his students sitting on their desks, turned around to speak to people sat behind them. Instead of telling the class to sit down or carry on with their work, Jeremy walked over to the cupboard in the corner of the room, opened the door and walked in. As he stood sorting out the shelves, the students continued to mess around and making even more noise than they were before.

* * *

Once all the students had resumed back to lessons as the lunch break came to an end, Amber's sixth year students piled into her classroom, startling her slightly as she was sat at her desk, catching up on marking the year seven's work.

"Settle down!" Amber ordered as the class continued to talk once the majority of them had sit down. "You've just had lunch so you shouldn't be this talkative."

With his hand wrapped around Dylan's shoulders, Danny gave his girlfriend a quick hug before letting her sit down on her seat beside Alfie. As he made his way to his own seat, Danny glared across at Alfie, who was totally unfazed by Danny's threatening stare.

"First things first," Amber paused as she put down her pen and stood up to start the lesson. "Results are back from those assignments I got you all to do for last week."

Amber picked up a pile of assignment papers before handing them out to their authors, giving brief comments to each student as she gave them back.

"Great essay, Kimmy."

"Brilliant work, Luke."

"Fantastic analysis, Dylan."

"And, Danny, well done."

As Amber put Danny's assignment paper on the desk in front of him, Danny flicked it towards him and paused in shock as he saw the grade.

"I got an A?" Danny questioned with a puzzled look on his face as he looked up to Amber. "An A?"

"Yes, Danny," Amber laughed. "You got an A. Well done."

Dylan turned around to give a huge grin to Danny, who was still looking down at the paper in shock.

"Something tells me that Dylan's changing you for the better," Amber smirked as she handed out the final paper, giving a congratulatory smile to Danny. "If I was you, I wouldn't let her go."

"Oh, miss, I don't intend on doing that anytime soon," Danny grinned, glancing across to a blushing Dylan.

Alfie, who was sat beside Dylan, turned around and threw daggers at Danny. As Danny smirked back to his rival, Alfie turned back to face the front of the room, ignoring Danny's slyness as he continued to pretend to do the work set.

* * *

With the classroom full of bubbling test tubes and roaring bunsen burners, Amber's students continued to carry out the experiment in pairs. Dylan let Alfie take the lead with their practical as she watched, taking down notes and reading the thermometers. Danny, on the other hand, took over from Kimmy and did the experiment solo.

"What's this then?" Kimmy joked as she took a step back and let Danny do all the work for a change. "One A in a first term back to school assignment and you become an entirely different person?"

Danny glanced up at his lab partner before putting some more acid into the test tube. "There's nothing wrong with giving it a go, Kimmy."

"No, but this teacher's pet thing isn't really your sort of scene, is it?" Kimmy asked. "Who are you trying to impress? Dylan?"

"I'm not trying to impress anyone," Danny paused as he lifted the test tube back onto the heat from the lit bunsen burner. "I'm just trying to better myself."

"You're not fooling anybody," Kimmy laughed as she picked up a textbook from her table and walked over to ask their teacher a question.

As Danny glanced over to the other side of the classroom, he felt a sudden rage inside of him as he noticed Dylan laughing with her hand gently placed across Alfie's arm. He continued to watch them from a distance, getting more and more wound up as Alfie continued to make jokes for Dylan's benefit.

"Watch out, Danny," Amber sighed as she walked over to Danny's experiment, interrupting his anger over Dylan and Alfie.

Looking down, Danny realised he had managed to spill the test tube of burning acid all over his textbook and workbench.

"Sorry, miss," Danny apologised.

"Go get another textbook off the shelf at the front of the room," Amber instructed, letting out a discreet sigh as she did so. "I'll sort this out."

As Danny trudged across the classroom, past Dylan and Alfie's desk, Dylan took hold of his arm and pulled him towards her. "Well done on your A," Dylan beamed. "I told you that you could do it."

"I wouldn't have got it without you though," Danny replied, glaring back at Alfie before smiling at his girlfriend who was completely unaware of the tension between her boyfriend and her lab partner.

"You can do anything if you want it that bad," Dylan smiled.

"Dylan, I know you and Alfie have finished your experience so can you please go get some more paper towels from the girls' bathroom please?" Amber asked as she began to tidy up the acid spillage.

With Dylan disappearing out of the classroom and the teacher occupied at Danny and Kimmy's work area, Danny shuffled across to stand in front of Alfie.

"I know what you're doing," Danny snarled, keeping his voice down to a minimum volume so nobody else could hear what he was saying. "I know what you're doing and it's not going to work."

"What am I doing then?" Alfie asked, smirking to himself as he watched Danny get even more wound up than before.

"You're trying to get all close to Dylan so you can try and take her from me," Danny replied. "And it won't work. She loves me. We have a connection - unlike you two."

"A connection?" Alfie laughed.

"I was the first one to sleep with her. She's always gonna remember me," Danny smiled, just in time for Dylan to return back to the classroom, armed with a stack of paper towels.

"Here you go, miss," Dylan said to Amber as she gave her the paper towels.

* * *

Instead of having an innocent bunch of year eight students that Jeremy imagined them to be, he was met by a rowdy group of pre-pubescent teenagers who got enjoyment of out shouting comments to one another across the classroom as he tried to teach a lesson. After a disastrous morning with his sixth year students and a lunch break in the stationary cupboard of his classroom, Jeremy didn't have the energy nor the motivation to get his students to behave. He didn't see the point. The school's deputy head already had him down for a failure.

With his hands quivering, Jeremy shoved them behind his back in an attempt at hiding the state he was in from his year eight students.

"Can I just have a bit of hush please?" Jeremy asked in a shallow tone as he looked around at the students.

It didn't work. Instead of quietening down, the students raised their voices even louder.

"Sam, is it true Katie Fields asked you out?" one student shouted from one end of the classroom to the other.

"None of your business!" the other student shouted back in reply.

"Sir, is it true that Mr. Bushley had a go at you in your lesson this morning?" one of the girls at the back of the room called to Jeremy.

"All the year elevens are saying it is, sir," another girl laughed.

"How embarrassing!"

"Sir, do we have to do work?"

"Sir, what's your name?"

"Sir, are you new here?"

"Sir, are you a supply teacher?"

"Sir.."

"Sir.."

"Um, sir!"

Every word spoken in the classroom made Jeremy more on edge as he looked at the class. Without any warning, Jeremy threw his hands onto his desk and pushed the pile of textbooks onto the floor, just missing one of the students' feet by centimetres. Grabbing hold of a sheet of school rules that was pinned to the noticeboard behind him, Jeremy ripped it off and threw it onto the ground in a crumpled ball.

"Sir, are you okay?"

The students watched as Jeremy broke down in front of them. Some were looking at him in concern but the majority of them were laughing and egging him on to destroy more things for their entertainment.

Tearing down the pole that was holding up the blinds at the gloomy window was the final bit of destruction that Jeremy did. Once the classroom resembled a bomb site, Jeremy opened up the door to the stationary cupboard and barricaded himself in. Sitting on top of all the old textbooks and workbooks that the previous teacher of the room had left behind, Jeremy burrowed his head into his hands and rocked back and forth.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the corridor, Layla was slowly making her way back to her office after leaving Chelsea and her family at the hospital. As she took each step, the look of concern on her face grew as she heard the sound of students laughing and shouting. Just as she reached the section of the corridor that her office and Jeremy's classroom were in, a student ran out from Jeremy's classroom, looking alarmed.

"Stacey, what is it?" Layla asked in worry.

"It's Mr. Sutcliffe, miss," Stacey responded. "I don't know what happened but he just lost it. He kept tearing things down and throwing things about the classroom and he's locked himself in the cupboard now and he won't come out."

Within seconds, Layla had stormed into her colleague's classroom and took control of the uncontrollable class.

"This is no way to behave, let alone to a new member of staff!" Layla bellowed as she looked around at the students' faces in shame. "You should all be disgusted with yourselves. Mr. Sutcliffe is trying to give you an education and this is the way you repay him?"

The class were silent for the first time in their lesson.

"I want you all to stay seated in silence while I go find an empty classroom for you all to move to," Layla instructed. "Anybody who doesn't stay seated or doesn't stay silent will find themselves in detention with me for the next month!"

As Layla rushed out of the classroom, she spotted Taj walking down the corridor in the opposite direction.

"Taj!" she called.

Turning around, Taj looked back up the corridor at Layla. "Yeah."

"Have you got a class right now?" Layla asked.

Taj shook his head.

"Do you mind if you take Jeremy's year eights?" Layla pleaded. "He's had some sort of breakdown and locked himself in the cupboard."

"Of course not," Taj insisted. "I'll take them with me now."

Layla marched back into Jeremy's classroom and ordered everybody out of the classroom. As she watched the students follow Taj towards the art classroom, she walked over to the stationary cupboard and knocked gently on the door.

"Jeremy? Are you okay in there? It's me, Layla."

There was no reply.

"I've sent all your students with Taj Mahila so we can have a talk. Do you think you could open up the door for me?"

There was still no reply.

"I know teaching can get a bit full on at times and the students can be a right handful, but this happens to the best of us, Jeremy," Layla paused. "I remember on my first day in teaching, I ended up getting so wound up by everything that as soon as I got into my car at the end of the day, I cried for an hour straight. But it gets better. I promise."

Yet again, there was still no reply.

Layla slumped back on the desk and looked around the classroom at the mess Jeremy had made.

"I'm here to help you, Jeremy, but I can't help you if you're locked in the stationary cupboard, can I?"

There was a few sounds of shuffling about that came from inside the cupboard as Layla watched the door in hope that Jeremy would walk out.

"In teaching, you have good days and you have bad days and you have really, really bad days. It doesn't mean you're a bad teacher," Layla explained. "It's your first day at teaching, isn't it?"

The door slowly unlocked to reveal Jeremy with bloodshot eyes and pale white skin.

"That's better," Layla smiled, trying to encourage Jeremy to leave the cupboard properly.

"I'm not up for this," Jeremy paused. "I've not got what it takes to be a teacher. I messed up today. I had everything planned and it all fell through. I can't do this. I won't do this. I'm not a good teacher. I never was. I just pretended I was going to be a good teacher once I joined this school, but I can tell that was the worst mistake I have ever made in my entire life. I haven't got what it takes to be a teacher. I deserve better and the students deserve better. Dale was right."

"Dale?" Layla questioned in confusion. "Dale Bushley?"

Jeremy nodded as he looked across at Layla through tired eyes.

"Dale Bushley as in the Dale Bushley, deputy head teacher at Waterloo Road?"

Jeremy nodded once more.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing. It's just the way he looked at me. He knows I can't teach. I know myself that I can't teach."

Layla looked back to the classroom door before looking at Jeremy. "If you want to go, you can go but I think you have what it takes to be a teacher," Layla paused. "It'll take some time but you'll be a great teacher."

Jeremy shook his head. "I can't put myself through another day like this."

Layla nodded. "I guess."

"Would you tell Shauna I'm sorry?"

Layla nodded as she stood up from the desk and walked back to the door. "Of course."

"Thank-you."

* * *

As footballs were flung around the school ground whilst the students were slowly leaving the school grounds after yet another hectic day at Waterloo Road, Shauna was sat in her office, reading through emails as Daryl was sat at his desk in his office, writing out this month's edition of the school newsletter.

"Sorry to disturb you, Shauna, but I have some bad news," Layla paused as she poked her head around Shauna's office door.

"Not more bad news this term, please," Shauna groaned as she shut her laptop down and looked over at Layla. "Anything but bad news."

Layla stood still for a few moments in silence as she debated telling the headteacher her bad news. But in the end, she decided to be the one to deliver the bad news to Shauna.

"Jeremy's quit," Layla said as she stood nervously in the doorway, anxious as to how Shauna would react.

Shauna lent back in her chair before letting out a huge sigh. For a moment, Layla was confused as to whether it was a sigh of disappointment or a sigh of relief.

"I guess I'd better get onto the supply teacher agency and get a Geography teacher for the rest of the term. But, Layla, thank-you for today with Chelsea. You've been an absolute God send with her and if it wasn't for you, she probably wouldn't have made it."

"How is she doing?" Layla asked as she walked into the office, closing the door behind her in relief that Shauna wasn't too gutted about the bad news she had just broken to her.

"Stable," Shauna replied. "Doctors think she'll be fine after a few days. She's had a lucky escape."

"I guess. Still doesn't answer where she got the drugs from in the first place."

"Police are going to interview her tomorrow morning after she's rested," Shauna sighed.

Just as Layla was about to reply, sharing her worries over the drugs being from the school, there was a knock on the office door, interrupting their discussion.

"Come in," Shauna called as she picked up her coffee cup to have a sip.

"Miss."

"Ah, Vicky," Layla smiled as Vicky shyly made her way into the office. "Are you okay?"

Nervously, Vicky looked up at the teachers and hesitantly nodded. "Yeah. I just.. I just thought you should know something.." Vicky paused as she glanced down at her hands, avoiding all eye contact with Layla and Shauna, who were looking over at her in confusion. "Something about Chelsea. And the drugs."

"How did you know?" Shauna asked, putting down her cup and sitting forward at her desk.

"I was there. When Chelsea took the drugs."

Layla looked across at Shauna, knowing what was coming - even more bad news.

"She took it and just ran into the toilet to be sick. I thought it was just nerves as we hadn't done it before but then she stopped talking to me and I got worried and I panicked and I just ran out of there. I was going to get help but.. I didn't want to get in trouble. I didn't know what to do."

"Why are you telling us now?" Shauna asked, looking concerned.

"I went home but my mum came back so I left the house and wandered around. It wasn't until I heard Michelle Bolton and Nicole Welsh talking about Chelsea being in hospital after school that I knew I needed to come back to school to tell somebody the truth."

Layla and Shauna continued to look at the year nine in shock. "What truth, Vicky?" Layla asked.

"It was Sean. Sean White supplied us with the drugs," Vicky paused. "He told us not to say anything but if anything happens to Chelsea, I'll kill him."


End file.
